From the moment she took the gavel as Speaker of the House in January of 2007 to the night her Democratic Party lost its majority and access to the Speakership, Nancy Pelosi was repeatedly branded as a congressional “ultra-liberal” by the Republican Party. A few examples:

South Carolina Republican Party, in a demonstrably untrue declaration:

“Every outrageous policy that ultra-liberal Nancy Pelosi has tried to force upon the country has had John Spratt’s full and undying support.”

Alabama Republican Party:

“The 111th Congress convened today and with it came votes by Alabama Democrat Congressmen Bobby Bright and Parker Griffith in favor of Nancy Pelosi retaining her position as Speaker of the House. Griffith and Bright have now acknowledged that they support Pelosi, and by way of their “yes” vote, have officially revealed that their true allegiance is to the ultra-liberal wing of the Democrat Party.”

Republican campaign staffer Larry Stickney:

“Conservative Republicans rode a big red wave across the U.S.A. on Election Day, November 2nd. By replacing the ultra-liberal Pelosi Congress, Americans made great strides in returning sanity as well as civility to Washington D.C.”

Republican Party of Pennsylvania:

“Chris Carney has voted to support the ultra-liberal Obama-Pelosi agenda 91% of the time.”

Republican 501c4 group Americans for Job Security:

“Rep. Boucher is a loyal lieutenant of Speaker Pelosi and has cast votes which could kill Virginia jobs, and his votes, alongside Nancy Pelosi’s ultra-liberal agenda, are frankly out of step with Virginia voters.”

Suffolk County Republican Party:

“…unless firm action is taken before December 31st, 2010, Long Islanders will fall victim to Nancy Pelosi’s ultra-liberal agenda.

Republican congressional candidate Bill Hudak

“The difference between my common-sense approach to job creation, lower government spending and a tax policy that will stimulate growth, compared with Congressman Tierney’s nearly perfect record of voting for Nancy Pelosi’s ultra-liberal agenda could not be more clear.

The goal of the Republicans has been to make sure Americans associate the name “Nancy Pelosi” with the label “ultra-liberal,” but there’s a significant empirical problem with the approach: as a matter of tradition, Speakers of the House hardly ever cast votes or cosponsor bills. If you believe that ultra-liberalism comes from an ultra-clear record of supporting liberal bills, then for the past four years it has been ultra-impossible to nail down what sort of politician Nancy Pelosi actually is.

Now that the 112th Congress is two months underway with 824 bills introduced to the House and Nancy Pelosi no longer acting as Speaker, it is possible to assess just how liberal Pelosi actually is. Here at That’s My Congress we’ve identified a slate of 18 bills for which it has been possible to take a clearly liberal or conservative action. In Pelosi’s case, she has taken a liberal position only 25% of the time. Pelosi has failed to support bills to prohibit offshore oil drilling, stop usurious interest rates, remove liability protections for oil corporations, fund Pre-K educational programs, allow local governments to implement environmental protections for ports, and end huge federal subsidies for massively profitable oil corporations.

In sheer rank order of liberal legislative scores, Pelosi fails to qualify as an “ultra-liberal”: as of today, 54 members of the House have a stronger record of liberal action than Pelosi does.

Is Nancy Pelosi conservative? Of course not? Tepidly liberal on occasion? The record suggests so. Ultra-liberal? Hardly.