It was, perhaps, the first fable ever produced about an incumbent politician on the verge of embarking on a re-election campaign.

But if "based on the true story of" was the most appropriate phrase attached to The Long Island Incident, Barbra Streisand's homage to Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy, at least one viewer thought the word "distorted" would be more apropos.

"I was surprised to see myself portrayed as close to 20 years older than I actually am," said former Congressman Dan Frisa, whom McCarthy defeated after an intense electoral battle in the fall of 1996.

"And let me tell you, if I ever ate like they portrayed me eating in that one scene, my mother would have killed me. But I guess what it all comes down to is, if Hollywood and people like Streisand are going to do a story, they feel compelled to fit it into a certain, pre-conceived mold, no matter how accurate or inaccurate."

Chief among Frisa's criticisms of the movie is his belief that it ignored certain realities that would have cast his relationship with McCarthy in an entirely different light.

"Inconvenient realties for the storytellers," he said. "For instance, as long as a year before I cast my vote in favor of repealing the phony assault weapons ban, I asked Carolyn McCarthy to come to my office and discuss her feelings regarding the issue. She declined that meeting.

"The other thing was, they made it seem like I was opposed to the original legislation, but I wasn't even a member of Congress when the original legislation was passed," he continued.

Asked about actor Charlton Heston's campaign against The Long Island Incident -- his response to it was to take out full-page ads in certain daily newspapers to decry what he felt were inaccuracies about the National Rifle Association in the tele-film -- Frisa said, "I certainly don't mind someone taking Streisand on. Obviously, she's not a documentarian, and what you see in the film is really a distillation of her own left-wing bias."

Though he still remains mum on his intentions this year -- the rumor mill continues to suggest that he may attempt another run against McCarthy this year -- the former Congressman makes no secret of the fact that he scans today's headlines for further proof that he was correct in taking the position he did on the federal assault weapons ban.

"Look at what happened in the aftermath of those horrific school shootings, he said. "Immediately thereafter I heard that there was a movement in Congress to try to go back and fix the flaws in the weapons ban — flaws that two years ago I said made the law not only ineffective, but a lie to the American public.

"Though I've heard specific names attached to this effort to fix the ban, one name I haven't heard is Carolyn McCarthy's.

"You know, Carolyn McCarthy has managed to get some things done while in Congress: she voted herself a pay raise, got herself a movie, and is working on a book, but the one thing she said she was going to do — fight gun violence -- is the one thing she hasn't done."