OK, but without RINOs, the Republican Party will return to permanent minority status. Some conservatives prefer that - it's easier to throw bombs from the back bench than to build a governing majority.
It depends what you mean by RINO. Until recently, a RINO was a person who CYAed by voting liberal any time it didn't really matter, but voted with the party when the leadership told them that they must, because it was a crucial vote.
In other words, there was party discipline. The party needed the RINOs from liberal states, because that was the best they could get. But the RINOs had to pay the price of occasionally voting with the party when their vote was crucial.
Does anyone think that Lincoln Chaffee can be trusted to vote with the party? What about Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins. Those two used to vote with the party on critical matters, but I'm not sure they can be trusted to do so any longer.
What we have is a failure of leadership and party discipline. I think you can blame Bush for that as well as the House and Senate leaders, because he has allowed it to happen. Instead of punishing the RINOs who break party ranks, he threatens to punish conservatives who complain. That's not how you work toward getting in the votes on critical matters.
We're told that he nominated Miers, for instance, because he can't control the RINOs. WHY can't he control the RINOs on a key vote? Because he has let party discipline go to the dogs.