[Ramius]

I keep seeing people here call Perry a RINO, yet the positions of his I’ve seen so far all appear to be pretty solidly conservative. What is it that makes you call him a RINO?

[Texas Fossil]

Perry is a politician. I have never met him, but his parents live 15 miles from me. I know them and they are long time residents of Haskell County where I live. Their ancestors moved here in 1887, I am told. Some of my ancestors moved to this county in 1889. Other of my ancestors were born in Texas during the Republic.

I have my differences with some of Rick’s actions, but he is no Lib and has always been a fiscal conservative.

But most important, Rick Perry is a Texan. That is something that is important.

“Texas is not where you were born, but a State of Mind, Heart and Attitude.” It goes something like this: “Leave us alone to live our lives in peace and we will get along fine, if that is not satisfactory, we will deal with it.”

[stilloftyhenight]

Go here and read SoConPubbie's compilation in post 39. These are right from his own website as governor of Texas. There are videos of his speeches on the issues. When I have time I'll dig them up. His record belies his campaign rhetoric. It all sounds good until you take a good hard look at his actual record.

[muawiyah]

The only thing making anyone a RINO is first having run for political office as a DEMOCRAT ~ although you can accept a big enough appointment under a Dem regime and get the title.

RINOdom is POLITICAL IN NATURE, not IDEOLOGICAL.

Leftwingtard is sufficient to cover the non-conservative types. In fact, we have so terribly many words for Leftwingtards already that it'd be a shame to waste RINO on the pukes.

The first use of the term RINO on Free Republic on September 25, 2001 ~ the oldest date I could find ~ was in terms of partisan politics and involved a former Democrat office holder. Only later did anyone misuse it to mean Leftwingtard.

But if you want an ideological reason for questioning his Republican credentials, he's been soft on Illegals. That's one of those make or break things these days.