I would not think anyone is trying to absolve Pilate of any blame. The buck starts and the buck stops. Those who start an action and those who complete it are responsible.

One can not simply ignore the four gospels content because the final edits came three or four decades after the events if a person is actually concerned about getting to the source of a situation. There is some evidence that the gospels were developed around existing documents and eyewitness accounts. The Gospels of Philip, Thomas, and Mary Magdalene are intriguing and worthy of consideration but hardly more reliable than John, Matthew, Mark, and Luke and are generally considered as being from an even later date.

People have a nasty habit of reading an "all" that is not present in actual texts. The Pharisees or Pharisees does not necessarily imply "all". Again, my understanding is limited but I have seen indications that there were even several divisions among the Pharisees. While Pharisee now has negative connotations for many people, the actual evidence that this is deserved is pretty shaky and based upon a few "bad" apples.