Reidblog [The Reid Report blog]

Schieffer, 69, who has garnered strong reviews since replacing Dan Rather in an interim capacity 13 months ago, said Couric will be "a perfect fit" at CBS.

Schieffer said he admired Couric both personally and professionally. He spoke of his mother, widowed at age 45 with three children, and noted that the same fate had befallen Couric, a mother of two, at age 42.

Couric, he said, will be a "role model for the people at CBS."

Schieffer said he wasn't sure that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, under fire for his handling of the war in Iraq, would endure much longer in his post. He didn't put much stock in President Bush's recent declaration of support for Rumsfeld.

"It was also this president who said, 'Brownie, you're doing a heckuva job,'and that was just before Brownie got canned," Schieffer said, referring to former FEMA Director Michael Brown.

Much like retired CBS anchor Walter Cronkite -- who famously criticized the Vietnam War on-air after initially giving it robust support -- Schieffer was not optimistic about U.S. prospects in Iraq.

"I'm very pessimistic about this thing right now," said Schieffer, an Austin, Tex. native who had supported Bush's decision to order the invasion in 2003.

Schieffer expressed frustration with the Electoral College, which he said should be modified -- perhaps with one vote per Congressional district. He chastised a Congress that "never really attacks head-on the major issues that are facing the country," such as the immigration debate.