You make a good point. CINO is a better term for where we are today.
This brings up a very important difference. Dem/Repub are political affiliations. Conservative/Liberal are values philosophies.
There have always been liberal republicans, the best known being people like Jeffords and the Rockefeller clan. But even the label "conservative" as a whole is not that good a definition... There are "social conservatives" and "fiscal conservatives." And many others, I imagine as well.
Just being a republican has NEVER made a person a conservative. However the republican party has been a more welcome "home" to conservatives than the democrat party. But it looks like conservatives of all stripes are being evicted from that home.
Mark