Nightline: Janice Karpinski says Rumsfeld knew about Abu Ghraib

Download | play -Real Audio

Download | play -WMP this is from ABC World News Tonight

She's mad as hell and is not going to take it anymore.

DOWNLOAD (83)

PLAY (139)

Barack Obama calls McCain out for not having the guts to smear him in person.

GIBSON: Change the subject for a moment. John McCain has unloaded on you in the last 72, 96 hours as has Sarah Palin. McCain is saying, essentially, we don’t know who Barack Obama is, where he came from. I’m an open book, he’s not.

OBAMA: Right.

GIBSON: Were you surprised, A, that he didn’t bring it up last night at the debate and use that line of attack? And, B, since you must have prepared for it, what were you going to say?

OBAMA: Well, I am surprised that, you know, we’ve been seeing some pretty over-the-top attacks coming out of the McCain campaign over the last several days that he wasn’t willing to say it to my face.

But I guess we’ve got one last debate. So presumably, if he ends up feeling that — that he needs to, he will raise it during the debate.

The notion that people don’t know who I am is a little hard to swallow. I’ve been running for president for the last two years. I’ve campaigned in 49 states. Millions of people have heard me speak at length on every topic under the sun. I’ve been involved now in 25 debates, going on my 26th. And I’ve written two books which any — everybody who reads them will say are about as honest a set of reflections by, at least, a politician as are out there.

So, you know, I think that, you know, Senator McCain’s campaign has been focusing on me primarily because they don’t want to focus on the economy. And they’ve said as much. I mean, you’ve had their spokespeople over the last couple of days say if we talk about the economic crisis, we lose.

I mean, you can’t be much more blatant than that. They want to change the subject. And I understand it because the fact is that John McCain has subscribed, for the most part, to the same economic philosophy as George Bush, the same economic philosophy that has governed over the last eight years and has helped to get us in this mess.

This is a really horrifying exchange especially after this new story just broke.
Download | play -WMP Download | play -QT

ABC World News:

VARGAS: When you look back on those days immediately following when Katrina struck, what moment do you think was the moment that you realized that the government was failing, especially the people of New Orleans?

BUSH: When I saw TV reporters interviewing people who were screaming for help. It looked - the scenes looked chaotic and desperate. And I realized that our government was-could have done a better job of comforting people.

Froomkin:

In "How Bush Blew It," his Newsweek story last September, Evan Thomas wrote: "The reality, say several aides who did not wish to be quoted because it might displease the president, did not really sink in until Thursday night. Some White House staffers were watching the evening news and thought the president needed to see the horrific reports coming out of New Orleans. Counselor Bartlett made up a DVD of the newscasts so Bush could see them in their entirety as he flew down to the Gulf Coast the next morning on Air Force One."

So that would be Friday morning, Sept. 2, that Bush saw people screaming for help....read on"

Bush noticed Katrina failures: When they were screaming!
Bush is going on ABC World News tonight to do an interview.
This is a pretty horrifying exchange:

VARGAS: When you look back on those days immediately following when Katrina struck, what moment do you think was the moment that you realized that the government was failing, especially the people of New Orleans?

BUSH: When I saw TV reporters interviewing people who were screaming for help. It looked - the scenes looked chaotic and desperate. And I realized that our government was-could have done a better job of comforting people.

You might have stopped playing your guitar in San Diego and paid a little more attention! This is a remarkable exchange.

Muhammad Ali gives Bush the crazy sign

Thursday Funnies

Atrios: Bush, who appeared almost playful, fastened the heavy medal around Muhammad Ali's neck and whispered something in the heavyweight champion's ear. Then, as if to say "bring it on," the president put up his dukes in a mock challenge. Ali, 63, who has Parkinson's disease and moves slowly, looked the president in the eye -- and, finger to head, did the "crazy" twirl for a couple of seconds.

Download | play -WMP QT coming (from ABC World News) (pic from First-Draft)

Download | play -QT

Here's the WaPo article: Medal of Freedom Ceremony Shows Ali as Fast as Ever.

ABC Bosses Tell ABC News Kill The Interviews With Robert Kennedy Jr. …

via Huffington Post: ABC corporate executives at the network's highest levels ordered
three interviews with Robert Kennedy Jr. pulled from ABC News programming. The interviews all centered around Mr. Kennedy's investigation of thimerosal, a mercury based preservative, used in vaccines given to
children and believed to be responsible for increasing cases of neurological diseases including autism.

Mr. Kennedy's interviews were slated for prime shows ABC World News
Tonight, 20/20, and Good Morning America. Salon.com and Rolling Stone Magazine have exclusive rights to Mr. Kennedy’s article and they embargoed his story on other networks because of his arrangement with ABC...read on