Everything written in the Gospels reflects the experience of new Christians after the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in some way, shape, or form since that's the air they breathed. But that doesn't mean that everything we always thought we knew about the Pharisees (or anything else in the Gospels, for that matter) is wrong. When Jesus himself is recorded as having provided ample and consistent criticism of Pharisaic behavior I think we can all safely follow in his footsteps despite your meager attempts to undermine his words with assertions that are specious at best. As for your suggestion that the Pharisees were somehow more "liberal" for being slavish in their devotion to rules and regulations, well, that's just daft. As a liberal I do not accept that.