In his speech preview over lunch with television anchors and Sunday hosts, President George W. Bush expressed anger over the MoveOn.org ad which maligned General David Petraeus, a view Katie Couric vaguely relayed Thursday night without mentioning MoveOn.org while, on NBC, Brian Williams and Tim Russert specifically highlighted Bush's “outrage.” Russert related how Bush said “those who are responsible could, in effect, stuff it.” On ABC's World News, George Stephanopoulos, who attended the lunch, discussed some of Bush's comments during the gathering, but didn't mention his take on the full page ad, in Monday's New York Times, which declared: “GENERAL PETRAEUS OR GENERAL BETRAY US? Cooking the Books for the White House.”
On the September 13 CBS Evening News, Couric relayed: “The President was as defiant and unwavering as ever. And visibly angry about those who question the integrity of General Petraeus, calling it 'disgraceful' and suggesting it was an effort to undermine the General's testimony.” Over on the NBC Nightly News, with the ad on screen, Williams cued up Russert: “He had a lot to say about the ad by MoveOn.org that went after General Petraeus the day his testimony was to start on Capitol Hill. This ran full page in several newspapers.” Russert confirmed: “He said that he was just absolutely outraged by the trashing of this General, that those who are responsible could, in effect, stuff it. He was very energized and quite angry, Brian, in terms of that ad.”
