Power, Pasta & Politics: The World According to Senator Al D'Amato

New York: Hyperion, c1995. First Edition. First Printing. Hardcover. 24 cm, 357, illus., index, publisher's promotional material laid in. The feisty senator from New York recounts his journey from obscurity to the U.S. Congress and discusses his investigation of the Whitewater affair involving President Clinton, attacks on his own ethics, health care, and other issues. Alfonse Marcello D'Amato (born in Brooklyn, New York, on August 1, 1937) is a former United States Senator who represented the state of New York for 18 years from 1981 to 1999. He subsequently founded a lobbying firm, Park Strategies. During his term as US Senator, he was known for supporting President Ronald Reagan on non-economic issues such as abortion. He agreed with President Bill Clinton both in 1993 for opening service in the armed forces to non-heterosexuals and in 1996 for the Defense of Marriage Act, which denied federal recognition to same-sex marriages. D'Amato drew the nickname "Senator Pothole" for his delivery of "constituent services", helping citizens with their individual cases. New Yorkers saw the nickname as a positive affirmation of his attention to getting things done. He played a leading role in recruiting George Pataki and in securing him the Republican nomination in the gubernatorial race of 1994. In his own hard-edged, straightforward style, Senator D'Amato's Power, Pasta and Politics tells not only his own personal story - of the grandson of immigrants becoming New York's first Italian-American senator - but the story of New York and national politics in the 1990s. Derived from a critical Kirkus review: An attempt by the New York senator to explain his vision of the American political scene, at 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 opponents, including 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 Abrams, ran unfair campaigns against him. D'Amato's black-and-white world also includes an enemies list made up primarily of the ``liberal establishment'' along with the ``liberal 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. D'Amato also has harshly critical things to say about Newsweek, the New York Times, and CBS's Sixty Minutes. D'Amato credits Kevin McDonough with helping him ``compile'' his book. The senator, however, takes full author credit. Condition: Very good / Very good.

Keywords: U.S. Senate, Al D'Amato, Alfonse D'Amato, New York, U.S. Senate, Politics & Govt., Robert Abrams, Bill Clinton, George Bush

ISBN: 0786860456

[Book #17401]

Price: $45.00

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