Right in the old gazoo

by Alan K. Simpson

Senator Alan K. Simpson has never hesitated to call out reporters when they've overstepped their bounds. Eighteen years in the United States Senate have given this outspoken politician plenty of opportunity for clashes with the press, which he now recounts in Right in the Old Gazoo. With his distinctive, pull-no-punches style, Simpson points out where the media have erred (all over the place!) and offers a wealth of vividly told anecdotes that show how an irresponsible press threatens the freedoms that Americans hold dear. And here for the first time he gives his side of dustups with journalists, such as veteran reporter Peter Arnett and National Public Radio's Nina Totenberg. It's an insightful book that is also entertaining to read. . Simpson laments that too many journalists today have become "lazy, complacent, sloppy, self-serving, self-aggrandizing, cynical, and arrogant beyond measure." He describes how newspaper and television reporters manipulate the American public by presenti