Fat Boy vs. the Dirty Digger

It had the makings of a lurid tabloid tale (as indeed it was), and it cried out to be told in screaming headlines: KILLER AMENDMENT ATTACKS PAPERS. At the heart of the drama was Rupert Murdoch, the saucy conservative press baron known to his critics as "the Dirty Digger," tangling with Ted Kennedy, the controversial liberal Senator tagged "the Fat Boy" in the opinion pages of Murdoch's Boston Herald. Co-stars included three equally colorful New York politicians, who look upon Murdoch's New York Post with a mixture of fear and favor: Daniel Moynihan, the professorial Senator up for re-election; Alfonse D'Amato,...