[GonzoGOP]

Wrong. The goal has to be to educate, not intimidate. You cannot bring a person to your way of thinking if you refuse to talk to them. The simple and unpleasant fact is that there are not enough hard core conservatives to get a majority. In many places yes, but not in the big blue states like CA, NY, NJ and Illinois. If you reflexively drive out anyone who doesn't think like you on every issue FR will get very lonely. And there will be very few conservatives in congress.

I need only point out that at the time of the first Tea Party in 1773 Benjamin Franklin (you know that guy on the $100.00) was a royalist. He thought compromise and negotiation were the best solutions to the colonies problems. It wasn't until after the fighting started in 1774 that he realized compromise was impossible because the King was negotiating in bad faith. He became on of the most influential members of the continental congress and the greatest of patriots.

I will draw the line between the liberal troll, and the establishment conservative. You fight the first and argue with the latter. An argument is designed to reach a point of understanding. A fight is just shouting down the other participant until they go away. Ban the trolls, not because they aren't conservative enough, but because they are jerks.

This fight is just beginning. The 21st century Tea Party, like the Tea Party of 1773, are ahead of the curve. Sam Adams and John Hancock may have started a revolution, but they needed late adopters like George Washington, John Adams and Ben Franklin to win it.

[paul51]

the best way to debunk poor ideas is to air them out. Kind of like the idea of trying to gag people with ideas that don’t agree with your own. Let them post. if the ideas are rubbish they may even learn why.

[colorado tanker]

There was no RINO effect in Colorado. Buck was simply a bad candidate who couldn't stay on message and let the media draw him into sidebar debates about abortion and gays, where he made gaffes. No Republican I'm aware of supported Bennet, who was himself a weak candidate and should have lost.

I will criticize the party in one respect. A month out Buck had a solid lead in the media polls. The left began carpet bombing us with Buck attack ads, ridiculous, over the top stuff. But it went largely unanswered. We really could have used some of that money the NRSC dumped into California and it might have made a difference in what proved a very tight race.

[Eyes Unclouded]

Because the point of this site (as I understand it) is to:

1) share information and analysis about the news

2) coordinate activism locally (and nationally)

3) raise awareness about specific government actions that get glossed over elsewhere (going through the full text of the amnesty bill for example)

4) place for people to talk about various topics (religon, pets, prayer for loved ones, personal news, science news, medical news, history, tv shows etc.)

This site shouldn’t try to be an echo chamber and as long as you avoid serious trolling, profanity, racism, personal attacks, or threats of violence you should be allowed to post.

People have issues with candidates sometimes you can’t hate them for it. From what I’ve seen everyone on this site piled on Murkowski for what she did. Angle shot herself in the foot a few times with some of her remarks (hispanics look like asians). O’Donnell has some legitimate issues that raise red flags and her campaign was less than professional (”I’m not a witch...”).

Yea sure if Karl Rove comes out and identifies his FR screen name go ahead flame away at him but otherwise chillout and focus on making sure the GOP stays on target and doesn’t sell out (like they did the last time).

[Eyes Unclouded]

Because the point of this site (as I understand it) is to:

1) share information and analysis about the news

2) coordinate activism locally (and nationally)

3) raise awareness about specific government actions that get glossed over elsewhere (going through the full text of the amnesty bill for example)

4) place for people to talk about various topics (religon, pets, prayer for loved ones, personal news, science news, medical news, history, tv shows etc.)

This site shouldn’t try to be an echo chamber and as long as you avoid serious trolling, profanity, racism, personal attacks, or threats of violence you should be allowed to post.

People have issues with candidates sometimes you can’t hate them for it. From what I’ve seen everyone on this site piled on Murkowski for what she did. Angle shot herself in the foot a few times with some of her remarks (hispanics look like asians). O’Donnell has some legitimate issues that raise red flags and her campaign was less than professional (”I’m not a witch...”).

Yea sure if Karl Rove comes out and identifies his FR screen name go ahead flame away at him but otherwise chillout and focus on making sure the GOP stays on target and doesn’t sell out (like they did the last time).

[A.Hun]

deny RINOs the right to post on FR.

In this bitterly divided conservative world we live in, the use of the term "RINO" is applied regularly to various politicians, pundits, organizations, and Freepers disqualifying them as conservative.

In order to help define who is and is not a RINO, I have compiled a list from various Freeper sources that will hopefully lend guidance to the novice Freeper that may be confused, or the previously deeply conservative Freeper that now finds themselves or someone they support, labeled as RINO.

This is by no means a definitive list, and I hope other Freepers will help expand it.

You are a RINO, if you claim you are a Republican and :

You have been a Democrat..... appeared with, worked on legislation with, or agreed with any Democrat on any Dem sponsored issue, at any time.

You support anything besides closing the border and deporting illegals in the immigration debate.

You support any gun regulations

You have ever addressed homosexuals, enjoyed a homosexual's music, or acknowledged homosexuals in any manner. Support of civil unions is undeniably RINO.

You are pro-choice, have ever been pro-choice, supported legislation that allows any abortions, supported anyone that is in any way pro-choice.

You did not support letting the economy collapse in 2008.

You have ever been diplomatic with Muslims when addressing them.

You have ever advised caution in response to a knee jerk conservative issue.

You have ever resigned from an elected office.

You do not believe China is a dire and existential threat.

You believe the earth has warmed, not that humans caused it, just that it has warmed.

You support public transportation, hybrids, electric cars, CFLs, or any other green thing.

You support any environmental regulations.

You support any taxes except tariffs.

You support having the Federal Reserve in charge of monetary policy.

You support free trade, particularly trade agreements and the WTO.

You believe job losses are not due to cheap offshore labor.

You believe procuring federal money for your local area is normal.

You support the right of Presidents to appoint whom they wish as judges.

You donate to the Republican Party, especially the RNC.

You are from the Northeast

You think extending unemployment benefits is the right thing to do.

You are an elected Republican and you did not:

Refuse any earmarks.

Cut SS and Medicare.

Freeze spending.

Cut the budget deficit.

Cut the national debt.

Eliminate the DOE, DHS, Education.

Pass voter ID legislation.

Close the border.

Open everywhere to oil and NG drilling.

Attack Democrats loudly and daily.

Call for Obama's impeachment.

You are an elected Republican and you did:

Say anything nice about Obama or a Democrat

Sign any legislation that might be misused by liberals at a later date.

Vote for TARP.

Get elected in a liberal state.

Vote for or endorse NCLB and Part D.

Support any home ownership incentives.

You are... or support, vote for, agree with, endorse or were an advisor to:

John McCain

Mitt Romney

Rudy Guiliani

Mike Huckabee

Sarah Palin

Mitch McConnell

Fred Thompson

Lindsey Graham

George Bush

George HW Bush

Haley Barbour

Bob Dole

Newt Gingrich

Trent Lott

Mitch McConnell

Tom Delay

Schwartzenegger

Rick Perry

Kay Baily Hutchinson

John Kyl

John Boehner

Chris Christie

Scott Brown

Scott Thune

Paul Ryan

Vitter

Lisa Murkowski

Ron Paul

Marco Rubio

Meg Whitman

Carly Fiorina

Karl Rove

Condoleeza Rice

Dick Cheney

Laura Bush

Ann Coulter

Hannity

Rush

Glenn Beck

Don Rumsfeld

Harriet Meiers

Dick Armey

Olympia Snowe

Susan Collins

Darrell Issa

John Kasich

Mike DeWine

The NRA

The Chamber of Commerce

The Heritage Foundation

The NFIB

(This is just a short list...for noobies, it is safe to assume that anyone that is a Republican is a RINO, except for Jim Demint, Jeff Sessions, and Michelle Bachmann and you can't really be sure about them....DeMint endorsed Romney for instance).

Also for noobs, remember this. Circumstances surrounding a RINO's depravity are not to be considered....re: George Bush is a RINO because he called Islam a ROP, although at his hands, we killed more Muslim fanatics than any other time in modern history, removed the Taliban from power, and deep sixed Saddam... or.... because he proposed TARP even though he believed without it our economy would crash...or....Sarah Palin is a RINO because she quit as Governor of Alaska, even though lib operatives were destroying her financially.

If you are still confused, you can always consider anyone popular enough to be elected (besides a Democrat) statewide in a liberal state, or nationally, a RINO. Being able to raise large sums of money is another tell tale sign of a RINO, as is public service longer than eight years.

Most important is what to do with RINOs!

RINOs should not be allowed to post on FR.

If an identified RINO is running against a Dem, you should not vote...unless it's for a third party nobody or the Democrat opponent.

When considering whether to vote for a candidate and you cannot decide if they are a RINO or not, the safest thing is to not vote either.

This means that you will never allow a pernicious RINO to subvert our nation sometime in the future because of your vote. Democrats will be solely to blame then for our demise, which will happen more rapidly and usher in a conservative Golden Age.

I hope this primer will help Freepers and conservatives identify RINOs and treat them accordingly!

[CynicalBear]

It seems there may be a hitch in your hypothesis. Who is the one to determine what defines a RINO? Given there is really no concrete list of what the Republican platform is other then the ambiguous list of smaller government, increased security, and less intrusion, very few can agree on what that actually entails. The tighter that list is defined the fewer there will be that can be included under the Republican banner.

That, in essence is the struggle that the Republican Party has today. Even organized religions cannot come to a strict common ground on homosexuals, gays, or abortion that all within those religions can agree on let alone act in a cohesive manner on.

We could end up with such a small number of who we believe should be included in the Party that we are totally nullified as a group.

[wtc911]

How about you show us your hit list?

[Ken H]

You're worse than Hitler!

[trisham]

I think that’s pretty much an ongoing process here.

[HuntsvilleTxVeteran]

Below is from George Washington’s Farewell Address!

Warns against the party system.

“It serves to distract the Public Councils, and
enfeeble the Public Administration....
agitates the Community with ill-founded jealousies
and false alarms; kindles the animosity of one....
against another....

it opens the door to foreign influence and corruption.
thus the policy and the will of one country are subjected
to the policy and will of another.”

[pallis]

RINOs are always wallowing in the jackass crap like the pouting little pigs they are. Two years from now there will be fewer of them, and a new group of conservatives will be the Senate majority. The RINO elites are frightened because they see the end coming. The old power brokers are going to get retired. They had their chances, and managed to squander away everything. Conservatives are taking over.

[wardaddy]

maybe we’ll just get lucky and they will run off again

many RINOs here are fairly fluid

some who were Giuliani supporters or major Bots are now Palin folks...one thing consistent...they do not like criticism of whomever they support...no sireee

now either they’ve changed or they just do the cult of personality gig

I supported Bush large but Palin is far more to my liking socially and I support her.

then there are the “what culture war?” folks....but to be fair...values did not really carry this wave...Obama and the Dems leftist steerage and failure to help the economy did

so culture righties like myself cannot take credit I admit

what’s happening right now is multi facted and complicated and while it looks like victory...given demographics it still feels to me like a Dutch Boy finger in the dyke moment

[Don Corleone]

Heading the list is none other than “TOKYO ROVE”.

[Dick Bachert]

I’ve posted this a number of times and do so again inasmuch as THIS is a constantly recurring problem and some may not grasp how widespread it us.

Over the years – when, to steal a line from Billy Joel, I wore a younger man’s clothes – I was involved with several pretty solid conservative candidates for Congress. One was a Democrat (Lawrence Patton McDonald) – because that was the only way he could win in that district. Those old-timers who know Larry’s record will tell you that he was a solid an anti-communist America Firster and more Republican than the Pubbies in nearby districts at the time. (His mother’s cousin was General George Patton from whom he got the middle name – and his incredible resolve and love of this country.)

Those other candidates ran as Republicans. Because I was a rabid Bircher back then (still am philosophically!), those candidates had to pass my rigid litmus test or I went looking for someone who did. For that reason, I hooked up with what the TRADITIONAL country club Pubbie establishment types believed were too radical for their refined tastes.

As those campaigns began to unfold and it became clear to the country clubbers that these guys 1) had a shot and 2) were pretty independent thinkers who would be hard to keep on the reservation once they got sworn in, the local Pubbies communicated that information to the Republican National HQ types who rather quickly sent in campaign “professionals” ostensibly to lock up the impending victory.

Instead, in nearly every case to which I was privy, these “professionals” proceeded to TORPEDO our guy’s campaign in subtle but effective ways.

From that experience I can tell you that the Pubbies at the HQ in D.C. would rather have a Democrat win a given district than have a pubbie up there who would embarrass them by refusing to follow the party line.

If YOU become involved in campaigns for solidly conservative, America and Constitution loving, hard-nosed, independent thinking candidates in 2010 and 2012 and beyond – and I pray many of you do — please DO NOT trust any of those folks from GOP HQ in Washington. If they want to send you no-strings cash for your campaign, take it. If, however, they “suggest” sending in one of their “professionals,” tell them to fuggetaboutit.

They ARE WHO GOT US INTO THIS MESS AND THEY ARE NOT YOUR FRIEND!!!!

“The common and continual mischief of the spirit of Party is
sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to
discourage and restrain it.” G. Washington

[Gator113]

.

[Diogenesis]

Romney and Rove and Cornyn did to the GOP what they
did in the LAST election.

[TonyInOhio]

An interesting and ironic lesson of history: Sulla the Dictator devised a tool to identify and eliminate his Roman enemies, the proscription (Essentially, this new concept was an open publication listing names of people he deemed to be undesirable).

The instability and political in-fighting that followed led, eventually, to the rise of Gaius Julius Caesar, and the end of the Free Republic.

[babble-on]

There are really two separate questions:

1. Should Rove (and other Republicans) have been so critical of O’Donnell after she won the primary? To that I will answer NO, they (we) should not have been.

2. Did O’Donnell ever have a chance of winning the general election, regardless of what Rove (or I) said about her? NO, she had no such chance. The blame for Coons’ victory lies with nominating O’Donnell as the candidate. If you are more happy with Coons than you would have been with Castle, as some profess they are, then fine, but O’Donnell was unelectable for any office higher than pep-squad vice president.

[Dead Corpse]

Here's kind of a crazy idea I've been kicking around...

How about we let Jim and his Mods decide who stays and who earns a Ban Hammer?