Posted by
NOTLEGALROADKILLYET on Thursday, February 15, 2007 4:33:06 PM
If there is one term that does the Republican party more unnecessary damage than any other, it is RINO, which stands for "Republican In Name Only."
There was a time when it was used to describe northeastern Rockefeller Republicans. There aren't many Rockefeller Republicans left in the party.
I admit that I've used it, but not for years.
Now, when I hear it, it totally turns me off. The people who are using it these days are the folks who are so far to the right of the electable part of the party that they are almost always trying to justify their own misconduct when they use it. As in "XXX is a RINO so I won't vote for him."
The problem is that the definition of RINO has slipped so far to the right that it includes some very improbable people.
Not long ago a guy calling himself Nightsapper made a comment to one of my posts and used my least favorite term to describe John Andrews and Bob Beauprez. He called them RINO's!
For those who don't know the record of those two politicians, let me just say that it is hard for me to imagine how two men could get any further to the right than they are and still be electable statewide. Both are hard core Pro Life. Both oppose unnecessary taxation. Both promote vouchers and school reform. Have I missed anything?
It turns out that Bob Beauprez wasn't electable this last time out, losing 60-40 in a campaign that was never close. I'm not sure how much of that margin was Republican fatigue, given that he was a sitting Congressman and the record of the Republican Congress. The margin might also have been due to a bad campaign. Major newspapers painted a liberal Democrat as a "moderate," and routinely demonized Bob, which didn't help.
John Andrews might not believe himself to be electable statewide. He has never run for statewide office, though he was President of the State Senate. He is certainly a colorful and outspoken conservative voice, one of my favorites.
In short, it is hard to imagine how anyone could describe either as a RINO, but it did happen. I'm sure the guy who wrote (nightsapper) has friends who drop the word as loosely and irresponsibly as he did.
This week, a friend suggested that I look at a new Republican blog since I'm always pushing for Republican blogs. I didn't look at the blog more than about ten seconds before I was turned off by it. There, for all to see in its header, was my least favorite acronym. Talk about a bad first impression!
I would like to see the new leadership of the Colorado Republican party take a united stand against the use of that acronym. People use it to justify not voting for Republicans and until we can break that (non) voting habit, we will be, and will deserve to be, a minority party.