POWER, PASTA AND POLITICS

A self-aggrandizing, self-righteous attempt by the blustery New York senator to explain his vision of the American political sceneat least as it applies to the life and times of Senator Alfonse D'Amato. The world according to New York's Republican senator is very simple. Just about every political move that D'Amato makes is correct. Just about every political move that his opponents make is incorrect. Virtually every politician who has run against him, D'Amato says, is wrong on nearly all the issues. Virtually all of his political opponentsincluding the late New York Republican senator Jacob Javits, former Democratic representative Elizabeth Holtzman, former Ralph Nader associate Mark Green, and former New York State attorney general Robert Abramsran unfair, viciously deceitful campaigns against him. D'Amato's black-and-white world also includes an enemies list made up primarily of the ``liberal establishment'' (also known as ``self-righteous liberal do- gooders'') along with the ``liberal press'' (also called ``the establishment press''). In the world according to Alfonse, the senator is always right; the press is disingenuous at best, dishonest at worst. The senator's press enemies list is topped by D'Amato's hometown newspaper, Newsday. That newspaper's coverage of his 1992 senatorial campaign, the senator says, was ``blatantly biased and hostile.'' D'Amato also has harshly critical things to say about Newsweek, the New York Timeswhich, he claims, ``goes to all sorts of lengths to appear sensitive to every `politically correct' group or lifestyle''the Village Voice, and CBS's Sixty Minutes. D'Amato credits Kevin McDonough with helping him ``compile'' his book. The senator, however, takes full author credit. That might explain why the writing is artless at best, mired in clichÇs, filled with amateurish exclamation points, and marred by several grammatical errors. For dyed-in-the-wool conservative Republican fans of Senator Alfonse D'Amato only. (16 pages photos, not seen)