Former GE Chairman and CEO Jack Welch is defending his position questioning the September jobs report. On Friday, Welch Tweeted:

“Unbelievable jobs numbers..these Chicago guys will do anything..can’t debate so change numbers.”

That Tweet — more than the numbers themselves — became the story on cable news. No stranger to cable news watchers, Welch did interviews on CNN, Fox News, CNBC and MSNBC, (the last two networks part owned by the company he once ran.) The debate continued on the Sunday public affairs shows as Obama adviser Robert Gibbs on “Meet the Press” said Welch “embarrassed himself.” NBC’s White House correspondent Chuck Todd  added: “The idea that Donald Trump, Jack Welch, rich people with crazy conspiracies, can get traction on this is a bad trend.”

Well, today in an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal (since he’s not writing for Fortune and Reuters anymore), Welch explained what he couldn’t in 140 characters.

As I said that same evening in an interview on CNN, if I could write that tweet again, I would have added a few question marks at the end, as with my earlier tweet, to make it clear I was raising a question.

But I’m not sorry for the heated debate that ensued. I’m not the first person to question government numbers, and hopefully I won’t be the last. Take, for example, one of my chief critics in this go-round, Austan Goolsbee, former chairman of the Obama administration’s Council of Economic Advisers. Back in 2003, Mr. Goolsbee

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ABC News has announced its coverage plans for the three Presidential and one Vice Presidential debates. Diane Sawyer and George Stephanopoulos will be anchoring the network’s coverage from 9-11 PM on debate nights. Joining them will be Jake Tapper, David Muir, Jonathan Karl and analysts George Will, Matthew Dowd, Nicole Wallace, Donna Brazile and Austan Goolsbee.

In addition, “Nightline” at 11:35 will have a post-debate wrap up, featuring highlights and more analysis.

Online, debate coverage will be anchored by Amy Walter and Dan Harris from 8-11:30 PM, and will be available on ABCNews.com, all of the network’s apps, Yahoo! News and on YouTube.

More information below.
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> CNBC’s “Closing Bell” at 3pmET yesterday was the number one cable news program in the A25-54 demo during the hour. It was #2 (behind FNC) in Total Viewers (339,000). “Closing Bell” had its best performance since February 14, 2002.

> FBN simulcast Sky Business Australia from 11pmET-4amET last night, and then started FOX Business Morning an hour early. It was Australia’s steepest interest cut in 16 years last night. FBN will simulcast Sky Business Australia again tonight from 11pmET-5amET, giving FBN uninterrupted live programming.

> Bloomberg Television covers the 2nd presidential debate tonight, with coverage on “Money & Politics,” anchored by Peter Cook. Guests on the program, to talk money and politics, will be the top economic advisers for each candidate, Douglas Holtz-Eakin from the McCain campaign and Austan Goolsbee for the Obama campaign.