If all you can do is "empathize", then you're part of the reason the GOP has continuously slid leftward since Nixon's time. You enable them every time you give your precious vote to one of their hand picked quislings.
And don't start with, 'Well, that's better than electing a Democrat!"
That's demonstrably untrue, given the performance record of so many GOP-e office holders. As has been said thousands of times on this forum, there's not a dime's worth of difference between the two wings of the Uniparty. They're liberal statists, one and all.
I'll say it again: You Get More Of What You Vote For.
Vote RINO, and be assured that the GOP will give you more RINOs to vote for. If you want conservatives in office, then dammit, vote CONSERVATIVE ONLY.
I also believe that nutjobs like Bill De Blasio, as distasteful as they may be, are in some ways doing this city a service by helping it hit rock bottom.
No, I don't believe that it likely that New York will become a red state any time soon.
But I also believe in herd mentality. I think that it will ultimately help some New Yorkers to make the break from liberal insanity if they believe that they are not alone.
So I cast my vote for whatever "R" is on the ticket. That candidate virtually always loses, but I am comforted by the fact that I am helping to document that a few of us do exist behind the lines. So, while my vote for president will probably never count in my lifetime, it is entirely possible that it will one day contribute to NY electing another RINO senator. People in my position have to be satisfied with small victories, but perhaps that RINO president (they are never truly principled) will be instrumental in getting a Supreme Court nominee approved.
That's about the best someone in my position can ever hope for with his vote.
In the mean time, I put all of my energy trying to get conservatives I meet in places like this (I go days at a time without talking to a conservative in real life) to rally around the best conservative primary candidate who can knock off the Mitt Romneys and John McCains of this world.
Perhaps I need to do a better job of explaining my motivations. Because if you react to that by saying that I support RINO candidates, then I'm definitely not making myself clear. I wasted a lot of time working on the Rob Astorino campaign this fall. Never thought he had a snowball's chance in help, but I did it anyway, because it was the right thing to do. These are the types of concessions you have to make when you are a conservative in a place that elects people like Bill De Blasio for its leaders.