Hope Springs Eternal
Here's the latest commentary by CBS News Chief Washington Correspondent Bob Schieffer, as seen on CBS News' Face The Nation:
I wake up early and for as long as I can remember, the first thing that comes to my mind is, "I wonder what's in the paper?"
My routine never varies. I scan the headlines while I make the coffee - and for the next hour or so, my wife and I read the paper. It's my favorite part of the day.
The golf teacher Harvey Pennick once said, "anyone who likes golf is my friend," and I'm that way about anyone who likes the news. Frankly, the people who don't mystify me.
Which brings me to this: Last week, 17 students from the advanced placement government class at the Kutztown, Pennsylvania High School, got up at 3 a.m. and drove to Washington to tell me their weekly assignment for the last two years has been to watch Face the Nation and discuss it in class.
That may sound like cruel and unusual punishment, but I wish you could have met them. They asked the kind of questions I usually get from college graduate students. They knew more about the government than some reporters I know.
Face the Nation gets about one percent of the credit for this. The rest goes to their teacher Barry Adams, who - it quickly became obvious - has that gift of all great teachers: the enthusiasm and ability to make learning fun.
On the way out, one of them asked me if I thought adults knew there are young people who care about their government. Well, if I didn't know it before, I know it now - and that's the best news I've heard in a long time.
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