Politics on the Hudson

Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-Queens, continued his criticism of Caroline Kennedy and her Senate bid today, saying on “Face the Nation” that for Kennedy “Everyone knows who she is, but I’m not sure what she is.”

He said she hasn’t proven to have the “guts and the gumption” to be senator.

“Eventually she has to get in the ring, and face the public,” he said.

He knocked Kennedy’s decision Saturday to release written responses to questions posed by some newspapers, in which she said she support gay marriage and opposed the war in Iraq

“They basically Sarah Palin-ized her,” said Ackerman, according to an AP story. “They’re answering questions that you have to submit in writing, she’s not talking to reporters as she makes this grand tour. They’re kind of building a mystique and an industry around her when we need someone to fight.”

Last week, Ackerman compared Kennedy to J. Lo, saying they are both big names with little substance.

“DNA in this business can take you just so far,” he said. “Rembrandt was a great artist. His brother Murray, on the other hand, Murray Rembrandt, wouldn’t paint a house.”

Ackerman is headed to Utica tomorrow to make up to residents after he angered the central New York city for saying “I don’t do Utica” as reason why he’s not interested in running for the Senate seat.

Others in the AP story, though, defended Kennedy.

“I love my buddy Gary, but I don’t know how anyone could compare” Kennedy to the governor of Alaska, said Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-Fairport, the AP story continued.

As for the resistance to Kennedy even among some Democrats, Slaughter said: “I don’t understand it. It’s not as though this woman’s coming to do us harm, it’s not as if we don’t know her. I took time out to raise my children, too. I find that a commendable thing, certainly it does not disqualify her from running.”