The only reason I can see, Pat, to keep voting for a RINO instead of a dem, when the RINO votes just like a dem, is:
The RINO keeps the Republicans in power. As long as that power is wielded by the conservative side, then the RINOs vote matter much less.
When the dems get into power, as they are now, we see stupid legislation like this non-binding resolution to pull out of Iraq, which at its best means nothing but at its worse means our enemies are emboldened and will now fight harder (as victory is only a few short months away in their eyes). No doubt some of our boys will die because of it, and others horribly maimed for life. Now we have Pelosi and Murtha saying that bill was not the end, they'll next seek to actually withold funding....
The power to block legislation from the minority, to keep in committee bad liberal law, to keep power out of their hands, is a mighty power we've lost much to the detriment of our nation. Some say we can survive the liberals in charge, it will only show the rest of the country how bad they really are, and lead to victory in 2008. I'm not sure.
I've said before that the DBM has soldily backed the dems these past few years and worked to sell the dems to the country. I'm not sure we'll ever get it back, at least in a form we'd recognize. Next year's going to be hard.
Unfortunately, that lesson is unlearned and the bashing of so called RINO's continues.
For now the senate is just about equally divided, with Johnson out for the forseeable future.
Any republican at all, even Specter, is acceptable if we keep control of the committees.
Just watching Leahy in action is enough to send one to the medicine cabinet for headache meds.