Famous ad made CBS host fume

Bob Schieffer says during the last presidential race he got in “several rows” with Herman Cain, including a tiff about a political ad showing the former GOP White House hopeful’s chief of staff puffing on a cigarette.

The “Face the Nation” host, whose show is celebrating 60 years on the air on Friday, tells the Hollywood Reporter: “I got into several rows during the last campaign with Herman Cain. He had run an ad [with his campaign manager] standing there smoking, trying to look real cool.”

In the infamous 2011 ad, campaign manager Mark Block is seen touting Cain as a candidate, saying, “We’ve run a campaign like nobody’s ever seen,” before taking a drag off his cigarette.

{mosads}“Being somebody who had bladder cancer — which was a direct result of smoking; I used to be a very heavy smoker — I wanted to know why he thought that was cool,” Schieffer says of Cain.

“So we got into quite a little thing about it,” Schieffer told the trade publication with a laugh. “He wasn’t in the green room when I got finished with the broadcast.”

The veteran journalist is also critical of the public relations gurus who he says “limit access” to information from lawmakers.

“When I came to Washington in 1969, most members of the House did not even have press secretaries. Now the lowliest subcommittee chairman has a media coach and a press secretary,” Schieffer, 77, says. “Mostly what that does is limit access.”

“People always ask, ‘What is the most manipulative and secretive administration you’ve ever covered?’” says Schieffer. “And I always answer, ‘Whichever one happens to be in office right now.’ They all learn from previous occupants.”