“Perhaps the goal, as noted many times here at FR, needs to be to nominate electable Conservatives from now on,”
You mean like Olympia Snowe?
Personally, I would rather take a chance with a true conservative than “win” with a proven Rino.
IMO a RINO is worse than a Dem.
Certainly, because a RINO prevents a conservative from running. A Demorat does not.