[af_vet_rr]

There are obvious RINOs, then there are RINOs that a FReeper might vote for over a lib or a leftie,

Voting for a RINO no matter what is still rewarding them for being a RINO. Your vote is the one thing you have and if you toss it to a RINO, your putting your stamp of approval on their actions.

then there are elections in which no principled Conservative could vote no matter who was running.

The one thing Conservatives have is our vote and we should never hold it back. I've wavered on this at times, but now I realize we need to make ourselves heard and that may mean supporting a Conservative third party - that's the only way the GOP will realize that we are still out there and still voting. If we don't vote, they won't know we exist and they'll continue chasing moderate (liberal) votes.

[paulycy]

Voting for a RINO no matter what is still rewarding them for being a RINO.

Let me clarify with a real FReeper example.

The other day someone on a similar thread said "If the race comes down to Rudy Guiliani over Hussein 0bama I'm voting for Rudy." The other FReeper said "No way. I would never vote for Rudy."

Clearly that is nuts. You don't want to throw away your vote by *not* voting, but if you refuse to vote for the RINO then you vote for the marxist.

The bigger point is that every specific election is different. A thinking person must take them on a case-by-case basis.

Conservative principles, as articulated in the Constitution, etc. are *not* changing. They are eternal, they are proven to work, they apply to all humans and reflect a profound understanding of human nature and individual liberty. Those are the principle we need to identify and promote to increase the number of true Conservatives IMO. We can do with a lot less partisan bickering, too.