Vargas Interviews The President

ABC News anchor Elizabeth Vargas had an exclusive interview with President Bush today. A portion of the interview aired on World News Now, and the rest will air on World News Tonight and Nightline. Vargas asked:

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?

And Bush replied: “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. A lot went right, by the way. But the chaotic scenes were very troubling. It just — it was very unsettling for me to realize our fellow citizens were in near-panic wondering where the help was.”

I wish Vargas had asked Bush when he saw the TV reporters interviewing desperate people. As Newsweek reported in September, Dan Bartlett created a DVD of the evening newscasts on Thursday, Sept. 2. Was that the first time the president saw the news reports — more than 72 hours after the levee breach?