Is Pelosi's Liberalism Only a Republican "Caricature"?

Zernike also writes today: "For Republicans and the White House, Mr. Kerry's 'botched joke' Monday was manna from Massachusetts, that reliable redoubt of liberal caricatures..."

In the middle of Kate Zernike's latest defense of Sen. John Kerry , this time concerning his seeming insult of U.S. troops, she writes: "For Republicans and the White House, Mr. Kerry's 'botched joke' Monday was manna from Massachusetts, that reliable redoubt of liberal caricatures. The White House, which had been struggling for ways to make President Bush less of a liability in the election, seized on Mr. Kerry's comments, with the president, vice president and spokesmen blanketing radio and television to blast him for impugning the troops."


In another Zernike article today (but strangely datelined October 27), Zernike seems unwilling to admit that even potential House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi is an actual liberal, as opposed to someone Republicans "have caricatured" as liberal. Yet Zernike has no problem straightforwardly calling someone else "a conservative Democrat."


"His opponent, Mike Weaver, has come increasingly close to Mr. Lewis in the polls by running as a conservative Democrat on a slogan of 'Faith, Family, Freedom.' He has emphasized his military background in signs urging people to vote for 'Colonel Mike Weaver.' And if the Democrats win a majority, he says he will not vote for Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic leader whom Republicans have caricatured as the symbol of all things California and liberal, for House speaker."