Correct me if I'm wrong, but the caricature is of the "humorless conservative", not liberal. This is the one that gets most of the press. Mind you, it's just a caricature and stereotype, not necessarily true, but to state that it's the liberal that's characterized as being humerless seems funny to me.

Think of the most biting satire, humor, comedy, etc, created by the arts (TV, books, stand-ups, movies, etc). Now, in general, are these of a liberal bent or conservative? Stodgy conservatives? Being funny?

And the horse joke was funny the first time I heard it 20 years or so ago. Other than that tired chestnut, I think The First Lady's effort was a good one and refreshing. Even for the wife of a stodgy good-old-boy humorless conservative.

I think there are humorless caricatures of both sides. And the tone of the post I linked to, with regard to Laura Bush's monologue, is exactly the kind of thing I'm talking about. It may not exist too far inside the extreme edges of liberalism, but it's there.

Frank Rich did a great job talking about the conservative side over the weekend in the New York Times. I've added a link.