Posted on 11/14/2009 9:07:29 AM PST by J. Worthington
OK, so you’re a RINO. You don’t have to stay that way you know.
Interesting piece. Thanks for posting.
That is fairly apparent in the NY 23rd race where the party endorsed an abject liberal who took on the name of a Republican and the more conservative candidate had to run as an indpendent.
Luckily in places out here in the west like Idaho, we still have a large majority of very conservative reps in the GOP...though the compromisers have made enroads here too.

RINO means Republican In Name Only
It means you are actually a DEMOCRAT but call yourself a Republican. This article tells me this author does not understand this.
The point attempted is that while traditionally a RINO did mean those less-than-conservative members of the RNC, that a shift has taken place, and the traditional conservative branch of the party is now on “the outs.” The term more appropriately describes the less and less represented conservative, who is left little pragmatic choice but to remain a Republican, even if in name only.
Admittedly, as one posted states, other conservatives reached the conclusion sooner.
No, Mr K, Mr Gonzales knows perfectly well what “RINO” means. He has revealed another equally valid meaning.
The point is incorrect. If one examines the voting record of our Republican law makers today compared to twenty or thirty years ago, one would find today's Republican representatives voting more conservative.
I could cite other examples of the author not having his fact straight.
The author is trying to describe a new kind of RINO, one who remains in the party but is conservative and does not align himself with the establishment Republicans. I understand it. But I just don’t think it’s necessarily a good idea with having to expend a lot of energy explaining why you’re not a McCain/Voinovich/Snowe/Collins/Grahamn/et al RINO.
Interesting wordplay but all non-statists be they conservatives, RINOs, libertarians, traditional democrats, classical liberals, et al. need to get their act together soon if we are to have any hope of taking out the 0bamacommies.
Reagan was the original big-tent Republican, merging the western "Goldwater Republican" libertarians, northeast "Rockefeller Republican" fiscal conservatives, and southern social conservatives (and former Democrats) into an electoral majority.
That is the kind of big tent we need.
all of this self analysis is going to send me to a shrink.
This guy speaks for me, too. The GOP establishment (for all those posters who haven't actually read the column but are going off the headline) is what has made Gonzales and the rest of us life-long registered Republicans who consider ourselves patriots first, conservatives second, and Republicans third, the real RINOs. If you're a reigstered Republican but a conservative first, and the Republican party only gives you Scozzafavas and Schwarzeneggers to vote for, then YOU (that would be me, too, and this fellow Gonzales) are the "Republican In Name Only."
I share this writer's epiphany, and like that he described that epiphany so concisely.
AMEN!!! AMEN!! AMEN!!!
To say that the Republican party only gives you Scuzzifavor and Schwarzyfavor is hyperbole.
of course, a lot of the people on this site are Conservatives in Name Only.
They are all talk and no action. Can they name one candidate that they are actively supporting for 2010? By “actively” I mean doing something, not just talking about him.
I spent a month up in NY23. Almost all of Hoffman’s supporters in the district refused to do a thing for him, which was not a big surprise. “I don’t do politics!” is the main conservative idea.
This heartrending picture ought to be front and center on FR. It reminds us all of what we stand for, what honor is and what the costs are. It is a pointed reminder that 0 is the one with the responsibility to ensure that the sacrifice is not in vain.
Our big tent cannot include the fiscally irresponsible, however.
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