WITH AN EYE ON . . . : Kennedy commentary on MTV’s ‘Alternative’ rocks the night away.

One word describes MTV veejay Kennedy both on and off the screen: glib.

Exaggerated tones, often peppered with a laugh, don’t seem too unusual coming from this one-name trademark.

What did she do during the recent earthquake in L . A . (which she was in town for)?:

“I jumped up and sang the theme from ‘The Jeffersons.’ ”

When a reference to her bio is made:

“It blows! Whoever wrote it makes me sound like (“Blossom’s”) Mayim Bialik!”

Is she as flippant off screen as on?:

“Sure I am.”

What would her audience find most interesting about her?:

“They’re real” (referring to her breasts).

Kennedy, 21, has enjoyed a remarkable rise, going from unfocused high-school grad to an unpaid radio-station intern to a high-profile MTV veejay in three years.

“One day she was getting me coffee, the next day she was on MTV,” says Maria D’Arcangelo of the local KROQ (106.7) radio station, where Kennedy interned. D’Arcangelo and her husband are now Kennedy’s managers.

In 1991, after a childhood that Kennedy says she “had as much fun as possible at anyone’s expense,” the Portland, Ore., native decided L.A. was the place for her. She immediately landed an internship at the Burbank-based KROQ, which has won Rolling Stone magazine’s best alternative radio station award for the last two years.

Working at KROQ was “great and a perfect distraction to not go to college and a good way to use my energy,” she says.

An on-air opportunity to read her own “really bad poems” during a 3 a.m. shift led to a full-time overnight disc-jockey position within a week. She became known as “the Virgin Kennedy.” (Kennedy is her middle name. She doesn’t use her full name.)

Less than a year later, she was in New York, on camera at MTV. She currently hosts the popular “Alternative Nation” show. She’s also the host of a daily five- to six-minute college radio show, “Left of the Dial.”

What’s most surprising about this wisecracking veejay--who says she was chosen by MTV for her “big hair”--is that Kennedy’s politics bear no resemblance to the President whose name she shares (no relation).

The self-proclaimed archconservative’s answer to the nation’s troubles? Boot camp for juvenile delinquents, more law enforcement and a stronger national defense.

She has little fondness for the current President her network probably helped elect.

“I don’t like his (Clinton’s) health-care plan or Bill Clinton in general,” she says matter-of-factly.

“It’s been hard at MTV, of their accepting my political views,” she acknowledges. “People know how I feel. A rumor got out right away about how I was obsessed with Dan Quayle. I have different views than the majority of people I come in contact with, and I get called names every day. There are people who accuse me of being a fascist without giving me a chance. They don’t have to listen to me now, but when I run for office, they better.”

As for her political ambitions, it will be awhile before she has the opportunity to throw her right-wing hat into the ring, since she has a few more years on her MTV contract.

She’ll host two of the stops on MTV’s upcoming “Spoken Word Tour,” which features poetry readings.

In the meantime, she doesn’t have a hankering to act: “When I was in the eighth grade I was told I couldn’t act, and I’ve been scarred ever since.”

Well, not too much. She has enough theatrics to keep the “Alternative Nation” audience watching.

“Alternative Nation” airs Monday-Thursday at 11:30 p.m. and Fridays at 3 a.m. on MTV. “Left of the Dial” airs on KLA-FM (99.9), KSCR-FM (104.7), KWTR-AM (530), KCEB-AM (1580) and KHCR-AM (530).