I’ve often said that CBS truly blew it with Bob Schieffer. He was the natural replacement for Walter Cronkite but CBS sorely wanted Dan Rather. So Cronkite was encouraged to retire early and CBS chose Rather, sacrificing Roger Mudd in the process. The real Walter In Waiting who went to the same stylistic school of journalism was Bob Schieffer. But Schieffer was, above all, a good company man and he continued to serve CBS well.
Schieffer has been fascinating for journalists to watch since he filled in for Rather and Rather’s ratings zoomed up. His permanent replacement was the under rated and unfairly criticized Katie Couric. But CBS realized, finally, what a gem they had in Schieffer and he has been given his due in other ways. He has also become more assertive as time has gone on, aging journalistically like fine wine.
I have not been outraged over the Cain’s smoking man ad like some have been, even though my father and several relatives and acquaintance of mine died of things where cancer and smoking played a role — and even though I do think its a bad influence on young people. I’ve seen much of the furor over this ad as media political hype.
But the blunt question is out there about Cain and smoking.
Watch Schieffer ask Cain head on — acting like that proxy for the public asking the question many people want asked, just like they teach you in journalism school. Too many personalities on cable and broadcast shows today sound like people asking the questions their favorite partisan hack talk show host would like asked or the head of their clearly favored political party.
Here’s the segment. Also note that Cain — again — handles himself exceedingly well. Which is why his poll number continue to climb.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.