Note to CBS: When Bob goes, so do I

Count me among the wearily nonplussed regarding the all-but-certain ascension of The Today Show's Katie Couric to the big chair at the CBS Evening News. The less said about that, the better - I should be watching The News Hour anyway - but this is an appropriate a time as any to offer up appreciation for the one thing that had me watching any CBS news product at all: Bob Schieffer. He labored dutifully to give the network a touch of grown-up journalism in the post-Rather days. Somebody should thank him, goddamnit, and Joe Gandelman at The Moderate Voice does a succinct job of it:

(1)Schieffer's response to Couric's likely new job is so typical of the kind of class he has constantly displayed during his long and honorable career with CBS. He not only has brought honor to his network but honor to television broadcasting.

(2)The only bittersweet note in this whole affair is that it's clear Schieffer, who was never taken for granted by his network, should have had a much higher profile job during the years. He fit the Edward R. Murrow/Walter Cronkite mode perfectly. We suspect some of the CBS Evening News' ratings increase is due to the fact that Schieffer is so classy, professional and oozes credibility. Hopefully CBS will give him as high a profile as possible once Couric takes the spot.

I'm not as optimistic as Gandelman; Schieffer will likely be returned to the gilded ghetto of Sunday morning public affairs shows, then retired with a gold watch and hearty handshake. And a CBS coffee mug, perhaps.

Well. Thanks for trying, Bob.

(From pillar to cross-post...)