by David Phinney

Feb. 21, 2007 — Gone are the photos of Ellen Tauscher and President Bush on her congressional Web site — including the one her critics have labeled “The Caress,” a photo where the president appeared to have his hand on her thigh.

It doesn’t matter. Liberal bloggers still are busy trashing the California congressional Democrat.

The Washington Post’s Juliet Eilperin and Michael Grunwald lay out Ellen Tauscher’s ordeal at the top of page one: Ellen is a very moderate-to-right-leaning California congresswoman from the East Bay suburbs living in the very liberal San Francisco Bay Area.

Headlined “The Woman in the Middle: Moderate Democrat Is New Target of Liberal Bloggers,” Tauscher was the only Golden State Democrat to oppose Nancy Pelosi’s campaign to become House speaker.

The former stock broker from New Jersey moved to California after marrying Republican businessman William Tauscher, former Chairman and CEO of Vanstar Corporation and a director of Safeway, Inc. After being elected to Congress, she rankled much of her party by working to scale back the estate tax, tighten bankruptcy rules and promote free-trade agreements.

AND THAT MY BE THE REAL PROBLEM.
A major labor leader at a corner bar last week had nothing good to say about Tauscher, who moved to California in 1989 before being elected in 1996. Nasty, nasty, nasty. Labor wants “a real Democrat.”

Tauscher seems to be trying to change her tune quickly, even as the online lefties continue riding her hard, the Eilperin/Grunwald team note:

This year, she has marched in lock step with Pelosi. But to Net-roots sites such as Daily Kos, Firedoglake, and Crooks and Liars, she’s Lieberman in a pantsuit.