I suspect what they are really upset about is that ABC is calling his bluff - he either participates in a substantive townhall (not that different for a debate) or he dodges her (again) and she gets an hour to herself.  

Hannity for example has been prepping the Patriot Games of 2008 and we've really got nothing to counter.  Indeed we have played into their hands with our selected candidate.

He does that to everyone.   I doubt he will do that to Obama.

For instance, if he was really going to "grill" Obama in the way he usually does to other people he would say, "Last year you said this about Rev. Wrignt:"

"What I value most about Pastor Wright is not his day-to-day political advice," Obama said. "He's much more of a sounding board for me to make sure that I am speaking as truthfully about what I believe as possible and that I'm not losing myself in some of the hype and hoopla and stress that's involved in national politics."

But now you have disowned Rev. Wright and have stated that Rev. Wright is untruthful and ... etc.

What do you say to people who simply find it unbelievable that you didn't know who Wright was until this last week?

Russert won't grill him.

The worst it might get for Obama in this interview is Russert might ask why it took so long for Obama to disown Wright, and Obama might say "Because I believe people should not be judged by one or two statements, and everyone deserves the benefit of the doubt.  It's something I feel I've dealt with and I'd like to move on now to a real issue."

And then Russert will nod in approval.

Obama took a different view on the issue when he was an Illinois legislator, voting at least three times in favor of temporarily lifting the state's 5 percent sales tax on gasoline.

The tax holiday was finally approved during a special session in June of 2000, when Illinois motorists were furious that gas prices had just topped $2 a gallon in Chicago.

During one debate, he joked that he wanted signs on gas pumps in his district to say, "Senator Obama reduced your gasoline prices."

But Russert and Matthews and many more of them  are yuckier still, because they have the veneer of respectability.

Continuing his argument, Kennedy said, "but let me tell you why they're wrong and I'm right, because I know Hillary Clinton better than they know Barack Obama," said Kennedy to a loud applause.