Posted on 01/07/2008 2:03:00 PM PST by jmc813
Theres an obnoxious and destructive term thats begun to do real damage to the Republican Party. That term is RINO, or R.I.N.O. an acronym for Republican In Name Only. Angry conservatives use the term to attack purported moderates in their own party. Recently, Mike Huckabee and John McCain have been attacked as RINOs Governor Schwarzenegger of California regularly draws that denunciation. Those who make war on RINOs, however, ought to confront an obvious question: would you really prefer that such people drop the Republican designation? How does it help if politicians or office-holders with whom you disagree leave your party and join the opposition? When alleged RINO Jim Jeffords of Vermont left the GOP and joined the Democrats, it gave them control of the US Senate. When another RINO, Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, lost his Senate seat in 2006, it also gave the Democrats control; if Chafee had won, wed still have a Republican majority and GOP committee chairs. The truth is that no successful political party has ever been built on ideological purity. You can construct a majority coalition by bringing people into your party, not by driving them away. Its childish and self-destructive to wage war based on some notion of real conservatism with those who want to align themselves with your side. Ronald Reagan himself used to say that if somebody agrees with me 70% of the time, rather than 100%, that doesnt make him my enemy. Democrats understand this principle--- they never attack DINOs, Democrats In Name Only. In fact, they understand the usefulness of such figures: they put forward several conservative Democrats in key Congressional districts in 2006, and those DINOs helped them win a majority in the House. If Republicans continue to express contempt and hostility for those they consider RINOs, theyve got to get ready for DIMOs Democrats In the Majority Only. Its time, in other words, for sane GOP partisans to call off the silly and suicidal RINO hunt.
Perhaps Medved is correct, these Rinos are plain old everyday liberals.
Medved is a liability to the conservative movement.
Okay, a practical question.
What should a RINO voter do (i.e., any Republican from a Northeast city) who agrees with the war on terror, lower taxes, etc., but disagrees on social issues? Those are the Republicans I meet here in Philly. Should they vote D?
Would Freepers prefer to jettison those voters from the party?
Suppose someone seeking the presidential nomination had, as a governor, signed the largest tax increase in his states history and the nations most permissive abortion law. And by signing a law institutionalizing no-fault divorce, he had unwittingly but substantially advanced an idea central to the campaign for same-sex marriages the minimalist understanding of marriage as merely a contract between consenting adults to be entered into or dissolved as it suits their happiness. Question: Is it not likely that such a presidential aspirant would be derided by some of todays fastidious conservatives? A sobering thought, that, because the attributes just described were those of Ronald Reagan.
-George Will
Medved just got schooled by a caller today...hahaha
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