[fieldmarshaldj]

I don’t know how Dole can be legitimately classified as a bonafide RINO. While he wasn’t as Conservative as Jesse Helms, he was in the 90s with his ACU ratings in his final years in the Senate. He was also the first to pioneer an unapologetically pro-life candidacy in his 1974 Senate reelection. He was certainly more Conservative than McCain and I didn’t hesistate supporting him in 1996. These 4 leading RINO asshats today are all degrees of liberal or trending that way, rhetoric aside (since not a single word of their rhetoric matches their records).

[PerConPat]

These 4 leading RINO asshats today are all degrees of liberal or trending that way...

They are what the majority of the moderate element of the electorate want them to be. The only sure path to dominance for either bona fide Conservatives or Liberals is national disaster, at least the perception of it. When- not if - economic and or security issues are sufficiently urgent to rouse the materialistic herd from its fun and games, we will have consensus in one way or another. Until such a time, we are mired in the middle.

[colorado tanker]

I agree with you about Dole not being a RINO. He was viewed as a fire-breathing conservative when he came on the scene in the 1970's. He was put on the ticket in 1976 as a sop to conservatives when Reagan didn't get the nomination.

That said, by 1996 the movement spawned by Reagan's election had somewhat passed him by.