Captain Fantasy
Well, okay, I’ll try to help. Again, I don’t hate or even dislike her (see my post again), but many of my conservative and libertarian friends do.
I think it is a combination of several factors. Being female is certainly one, but not the only one or even the main one. Sarah Palin is a good contrast. Loved by many on the right, although a woman.
Anyway, the main factor is that Ms. Pelosi has become an iconic kind of figure for those on the right because she speaks up for so many political goals which the right hates. In this sense the political right’s perception of Ms. Pelosi is similar to the way the left, once upon a time, perceived President Bush, Vice President Cheney, Secretary of State Rumsfeldt, and strategist Karl Rove. Rather than dissect all of the issues in rational debate, it is easier to just personify and demonize the opposition. This is an unfortunate trend in all modern American politics, whether liberal left, coservative right, or maybe off somewhere else Libertarian.
When the iconic figure is a woman I think that tends to exacerbate both people’s like and dislikes. That’s certainly true for Sarah and probably for Ms. Pelosi as well.