Bob Schieffer: How I bungled Watergate

(CBS News) The weekend the Watergate break-in came to light, I had a slightly different take than Woodward and Bernstein. I tried to get out of town before I got assigned to the story!

The reason was my boss Bill Small had just assigned me as part of the CBS team covering the Democratic and Republican conventions, both of which were being held in Miami - the assignment I had dreamed of all my life.

But I was still fairly junior at the Washington bureau, and I had the sinking feeling that Small would pull me off the conventions and assign me to the break-in, a story that made absolutely no sense to me.

Why would anyone break into a political headquarters? What secrets could possibly be found there? That's where you kept the yard signs and such.

Someone said it was just a bunch of crazies, and that was good enough for me. Why would anyone - especially anyone as far ahead in the polls as Nixon was at that point - break in to a campaign headquarters?

So I laid low, got on down to Miami, had a great summer, and that led to a long career covering politics here.

Still, I had made the WORST mistake a reporter can make. I just ASSUMED it didn't amount to anything.

Better, as Woodward and Bernstein showed us, to check it out - which they did, and what journalism is all about.

[martinab1]

Thank you, Mr. Schieffer, for admitting to something that many Americans are not aware of. I have always found you to be very straight-forward in your approach to politics and the news and as many of us, you are only human. To err and to admit it is honorable.

[dman6015]

Shoulda, coulda, woulda...don't should on me.

[marychgo]

Thank you, Bob, for admitting you underestimated the significance of Watergate. Sadly, MOST journalists underestimated that story, too.

Have you also apologized for believing the Bush administration's claims of WMDs in Iraq? And for believing Dick Cheney's claims that Saddam Hussein was somehow linked to 9/11?

And I'm still waiting for someone (anyone! in any part of the media!) to explain why it was good for the U.S. economy or the global economy or any of the people who depend on the U.S. economy or the global economy that, at the time of the 2008 crash, the notional value of all outstanding derivatives was $1.4 quadrillion (yes, Virginia, that's $1,400,000,000,000,000!). I understand hedging, and recognize that it can be a legitimate risk management tool. But when the notional value of outstanding derivatives exceeds the total output value of the entire planet, that's NOT hedging; it's gambling!

[B_Erhart]

Watergate was a scab on a much bigger wound. GOP derailed LBJ settlement with Vietnamese in 1968 insuring another 25,000 draftees would get executed for the mil ind complex.

Bonzo pulled the same stunt in 1980 on Carter with the Iran hostage
spectacle.

Now, GOP with minion Mittwit pulling the same stunt in AfPak insuring a steady flow of doe for the corp machine at the expense of US kids today.

Yeah Bob, you missed something...

[tadog]

You are who I look to for news. I miss you doing the evening news.
You are the best in the business. You are down to earth and I can't imagine any of your collegues(?) admitting to any of their mistakes.
Good luck in writing your country music songs.

[ronhenzel]

I believe that the Watergate scandal left an indelible mark on my generation--the one that was passing through junior high and high school at the time, and had its youthful idealism and naivete about government exploded earlier than I think the previous generation's had. As a middle school history teacher, I've endeavored to explain to my students just how disillusioning that entire period was. I put together a video summarizing the events. You can watch it at https://vimeo.com/43366697.

[2happy2ride]

Sorry Bob, but you're SILL assuming. History will prove this administration was the starting point of America's decline and you're still talking about a story from 1972.
Apparently, it never dawned on you, things haven't changed.

[lesserof2evil]

America was on the upswing during 8 years of the previous presidency?
LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL

[josephp5]

Not much has changed since Bob Schieffer turned down a real Watergate story so he could go to a party in Miami.

The reporters that you see sucking up to power at things like the White House Correspondents Dinner are hopeless. They will never ask questions that will possibly hurt their standing in the village. Do you think NBC's Brian Williams is going to ask Obama about the constitutionality of assassinating American citizen Anwar al-Alwaki and his 16 year old son during an exclusive tour of the Situation Room? Will Erin Burnett ask Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke about the ethics of having people like Jamie Dimon sit on the board of the NY Fed which regulates his own company, when her husband is an executive of Citibank?

If Bob Schieffer really wants to make amends for his poor judgement in his young years, there are plenty of opportunities. Unfortunately, he would rather end his career as a high profile talking head than as a respected journalist like Bill Moyers.

[roberttxdem]

Fox news talking heads are not respected journalists in most circles.

[Dreadnut]

Bob Schieffer going down the Andy Rooney path. What next? Bob's favorite toy train when he was a child, or maybe reminiscing about the first time he saw a TV broadcast?

Bob, get in the here and now; most people now wouldn't care/know the difference between Watergate and Waterloo.

[bobsfriend]

hey bob...maybe you could teach Fox "Faux" News something about "checking things out, before you report"...?