Posted on 01/07/2008 2:03:00 PM PST by jmc813
There’s an obnoxious and destructive term that’s begun to do real damage to the Republican Party. That term is “RINO,” or “R.I.N.O.” – an acronym for “Republican In Name Only.” Angry conservatives use the term to attack purported moderates in their own party. Recently, Mike Huckabee and John McCain have been attacked as “RINO’s” –Governor Schwarzenegger of California regularly draws that denunciation. Those who make war on RINO’s, however, ought to confront an obvious question: would you really prefer that such people drop the Republican designation? How does it help if politicians or office-holders with whom you disagree leave your party and join the opposition? When alleged “RINO” Jim Jeffords of Vermont left the GOP and joined the Democrats, it gave them control of the US Senate. When another RINO, Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, lost his Senate seat in 2006, it also gave the Democrats control; if Chafee had won, we’d still have a Republican majority and GOP committee chairs. The truth is that no successful political party has ever been built on ideological purity. You can construct a majority coalition by bringing people into your party, not by driving them away. It’s childish and self-destructive to wage war based on some notion of “real conservatism” with those who want to align themselves with your side. Ronald Reagan himself used to say that “if somebody agrees with me 70% of the time, rather than 100%, that doesn’t make him my enemy.” Democrats understand this principle--- they never attack “DINO’s,” Democrats In Name Only. In fact, they understand the usefulness of such figures: they put forward several conservative Democrats in key Congressional districts in 2006, and those “DINO’s” helped them win a majority in the House. If Republicans continue to express contempt and hostility for those they consider “RINO’s,” they’ve got to get ready for “DIMO’s” – Democrats In the Majority Only.” It’s time, in other words, for sane GOP partisans to call off the silly and suicidal RINO hunt.
A RINO himself, he endorsed McQueeg the other day, no doubt in sympathy with the senator's pro-illegal alien, pro-amnesty position which Medved espouses also.
Except for his support as a Jew for Israel, Medved is morphing into a nightmare talk show host.
Maybe he's taken note of the virtual disappearance of the radical Air America radio programs and wants to fill the vacuum all by himself.
At any rate, I won't be listening to his show any more, not even his movie reviews.
Leni
There was a word for the lefties back then which applies equally to your kind now:
Loser.
The one thing your type can't stand is winning. So you carp and find ways to make your side lose so you can feel morally justified.
I prefer advancing the conservative agenda. Electing leftists with "R" after their name might be "winning" to you but drifting left for the sake of "winning" ain't winning. Unless, of course, principles and agendas don't matter, only "winning".
So someone with a 'R' by their name but who is actually a liberal gets to do those things. Sorry, I just don't see that as a win. Personally, I think we'd get more of what we want by having someone with a 'D' beside their name who was more conservative than some of these RINOs we have running around.
we should embrace RINOs but that we should embrace conservatism all the more.
I have no idea how we can embrace both. Perhaps you can enlighten me.
I agree 100%.
I have no idea how we can embrace both. Perhaps you can enlighten me.
I see no reason conversing with someone with such poor reading comprehension... or did you purposely pull this phrase out of its context to give the exact opposite meaning? You'll have to note that the word before what you pulled is a negative...
I asked him who the class supported, and he said most support Obama, Rudy or Huckabee.
So I told him, “At least my guy Hunter is a Republican. The other 2 Republicans are RINO’s.”
He hadn’t heard the term before, so I explained it to him.
The next day in class he used the term RINO. No one in the class knew what he was talking about, so he explained it to the kids.
Needless to say,a lot of high school kids learned something new, and hopefully it opened their eyes a little!
As a side note, the teacher is conservative (supports Thompson, likes Hunter) and my son earned some bonus points from the discussion!
Medved, just shut up, you big baby. You’re just whining because die hard conservatives will never support your guy.
You’re right, I did leave out the word isn’t, which changes the meaning of what you said. So, you ARE agreeing with me that Medved is wrong in his implication that we should embrace RINOs. Good.
Michael Amnesty Medved is still on the air name-calling conservatives he doesn’t like, and urging them to leave the GOP.
“Calling people like McCain RINOs is over the top, however.”
Why?
Same for his fellow-traveler Hugh Hewitt.
Has he been reading our site again, we’re guilty ...
Medved’s big tent only opens left. He has been the first and loudest to call for purging people he dislikes. It wasn’t Democrat spokesmen calling for Trent Lott’s head, it was Medved and some of his comrades.
Medved and Hewitt are influence peddlers who try to manipulate conservative audiences for their own ends. Both were shilling for amnesty for years. Hewitt had a sudden “conversion” when Team Romney began pretending to be against open borders. Medved hasn’t changed and simply uses the Clintonian technique of redefining amnesty to suit himself.
I agree. Hewitt has never supported conservative candidates in the several years I listened to him. That is why I stopped listening. But he is “pragmatic” and willing to surrender in baby steps.
“A political party cannot be all things to all people. It must represent certain fundamental beliefs which must not be compromised to political expediency or simply to swell its numbers.”
-Ronald Reagan (1975)
Have stopped reading this guy. Wish we could have an election, and elect new pundits.
I guess what you’re saying is we should go conservative. After all, it worked for the DEMS. All the more reason to trash RINO’s.
“A political party cannot be all things to all people. It must represent certain fundamental beliefs which must not be compromised to political expediency or simply to swell its numbers.”
-Ronald Reagan (1975).
Finally someone gets it. Thanks.
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