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Media response to President Bush's address 9/20/2001 to the joint houses of congress and the American people was overwhelmingly positive. Below are some of the comments from network reporters and anchors:

• George Stephanopoulos (ABC): The President asked the country to be calm and resolute, and tonight he led by example. He was resolved, he was reassuring, he was sober, he was strong. And to me, he's never seemed so convinced before, never seemed so convinced of his cause or so convinced in delivering it . . . He defined the enemy, he defined the goal."
• Dan Rather (CBS): "A powerful speech, powerfully delivered to a nation now at war-a nation that now has before it a profound question. Can we as a people deliver, carry through to the end, on what our President has promised. And to a world that now has before it a stark decision: You are either with the United States of America or against it. No President since Franklin Delano Roosevelt, after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, has delivered anything approaching a speech such as this and there may be those who observe that no President in the history of our country has ever delivered a speech such as this."
• Bryant Gumbel (CBS): "It really galvanized the nation. The President did well in his speech."
• Aaron Brown (CNN): "To our ear, as strong and as confident as we have ever heard George W. Bush."
• Jeff Greenfield (CNN): "This speech definitely met the moment."
• Judy Woodruff (CNN): "I talked to a couple of Democratic consultants today, just to get a sense of what people who wouldn't ordinarily support this President were expecting tonight. They said he's got to match the passion with the words and explain what lies ahead for this country and he did that tonight. As he was reading the speech, and we know it was a speech that was written ahead of time, you felt what was in the heart of this man."
• Brit Hume (FNC): "And so in an address lasting just under 40 minutes, President Bush, at times stern, at times almost even angry, and at times emotional, has called this country and, it seems fair to say, much of the rest of the world to war. There you see him in a moment that would have been remarkable in that chamber just a week ago or ten days ago in an embrace with the Senate Majority Leader. His remarks were interrupted more than 30 times for applause and his recognition of New York Mayor Giuliani and New York Governor Pataki was met with thunderous applause, cheers, and whistles."
• Brian Kilmeade (FNC): "it must have been so hard to keep your emotions in check, especially a man like President Bush who says that he wells up easily. I saw the passion, saw the focus, the determination, and the compassion. It was as good a speech as I've ever seen in my life, especially when you talk about addresses to the nation from the President."
• Juan Williams (FNC): I thought he really did a stellar job . . . I thought he was reassuring and inspiring to the American people. In terms of his political fortunes and his ability to conduct this war, I think he has set himself in a supreme place."
• Brian Williams (MSNBC): "Making his fourth prime time appearance as President, the President some Americans don't know all that well yet, came to the House chamber tonight armed with language that soared at times, speaking directly to a worried nation in a city under heavy security at a time unprecedented in American history. He has been handed the greatest single one-day disaster in the history of the republic, and George W. Bush tonight spoke to the American people and told them what he plans to do about it."
• Howard Fineman (Newsweek/MSNBC): "He met the moment. He said our generation must and that he will, and I think he backed that up all the way from beginning to end."
• Tom Brokaw (NBC): "George W. Bush, the 43rd President of the United States, the son of another President who was tested by war, tonight delivering very strong words that have added up to very strong warnings in a very strong appearance by this President, a test of history and leadership that he could not have imagined as a presidential candidate. In the last ten days, his critics as well as his admirers have remarked upon his growth."
• Tim Russert (NBC): "It was an excellent speech and a necessary one. We are a country on the verge of war hovering near a recession in a capital that was targeted for attack, and I think the President laid out very, very clearly what's ahead of us. I was quite taken by him saying that the country is on a mission and found our moment. He clearly is a commander-in-chief on a mission and knows this is his moment in history."
• Charles Gibson (ABC): "I've covered a lot of presidential speeches to the Congress, but last night, a speech like no other in my lifetime . . . That was an extraordinary night."
• Diane Sawyer (ABC): "I was so moved by the paragraph in the President's speech, where he said, 'Great harm has been done to us. We've suffered great loss. In our grief and our anger we have found our mission and our moment to move forward.'"

Others at ABC News remained out of step with the other networks in providing a more critical assessment of President Bush's address to Congress:

• Sam Donaldson: "This was a fierce speech. It sounded fierce, the President looked fierce. I mean, if you looked back at the old film of Franklin Roosevelt asking that Congress for declaration of war, you do not see the same type of fierce presentation. I mean, you look at it, Peter, and you think of Shakespeare: 'Cry havoc, let slip the dogs of war.' Well, I think that's probably what the country wanted to hear. The mood of this country is very angry. The President could not have gone forward and seemed to be mild in his presentation.
  "On the other hand, I suppose there are those who worry that now this administration, this country, all of us, have to deliver, have to come forward . . . A war the President said would last for years must be fought. And when he turned to the military and said be ready, you will make us proud. It's going to be the kind of declaration, the kind of fierceness that has to be followed through. If there isn't a follow through, it's going to be a terrible, terrible let down."
• Peter Jennings: "Claire, the President said at one point, 'From this day forward, any nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism, will be regarded by the United States as a hostile regime.' Should we be taking this as the 'Bush Doctrine'?"
  Claire Shipman: "I think so, Peter, and it's interesting because this was a very firm message to the international community, and it's not necessarily the message those abroad wanted to hear. Moderate Arab nations, even NATO allies, were not looking for a lot of bellicose language about war. They weren't looking for ultimatums. But that's what they got, and that's what they've been hearing in private. In fact, the only thing that I think some of the nations abroad, especially the moderate Arab nations, were looking to hear was the fact that this is not a war against Islam, it's not a war against Arabs. They got that part of the message, but for the most part, this is not going to be reassuring to the international community which was looking for something probably a little bit softer."

As the Media Research Center pointed out, "ABC had time for Shipman's spin because it, unlike every other network, skipped the Tom Daschle/Trent Lott comments which occurred a few minutes after Bush finished. Instead, ABC featured analysis from its reporters while Jennings also talked to Imam Hendi, the Muslim Chaplain at Georgetown University, and Ruth Simmons, President of Brown University."

Apparently the folks at ABC found it difficult to stomach the true bipartisanship that Congress has expressed in its support for the president and the pain and outrage of the American people. Maybe this would explain why so many American's have had trouble stomaching ABC's coverage of events since September 11.

• And lastly, Eleanor Clift (Newsweek): "I thought the President's speech had perfect pitch for a domestic audience, but I think there was some major errors when you're talking about an international audience. Invoking God, saying God's on our side, we need to keep this secular. We don't need to join it as a holy war. Secondly, he should have pointed out that this government has protected Moslems in Kosovo, in Bosnia, and to make it really clear that this is not a war against Islam."