Pete Ricketts has always had a hard time reading the room.

I remember when he was first running for governor. I heard him give a speech at Big Mama’s Kitchen in North Omaha. The room was filled with North Omaha residents concerned about urban issues like jobs, education and crime.

But instead of talking about those issues, Senator Ricketts gave his stump speech about his ag proposals. I’m sure the farmers in rural Nebraska could appreciate a speech like that, but it fell on deaf ears. By not reading the room, Pete Ricketts wasted his time and that of those in the crowd.

Eddie Eucker was a kid who lived next door to us when I was a young kid. Eddie was a year older, and his parents weren’t as strict as mine, so he got to do things I couldn’t.

Whenever I wanted to do something that Eddie was doing, my folks would say, “If Eddie jumped off a bridge, would you jump too?”

Of course, I was a smart ass, and I said I would, even though I knew the point my parents were trying to make. And it’s a point that has stuck with me all these years later.

Just because someone else is doing something doesn’t make it right for you to do it.

CBS News didn’t fire Scott Pelley because he was doing subpar work. They didn’t fire him because he was a disgruntled, insubordinate employee. No, CBS News fired him because he did what every good journalist is supposed to do.

Scott Pelley spoke truth to power.