Republican in name only

Republican In Name Only or RINO a disparaging term for a member of the United States Republican Party whose political ideology is criticized as too far outside the party's conservative mainstream.

The Republican National Committee typically objects to efforts to enter a primary to defeat an incumbant RINO. Thus in the 2006 Rhode Island senate primary, the national GOP spent over $1 million to defeat a right wing candidate who challenged incumbent Senator Lincoln Chaffee.[1][2] Outside groups contend that it is better for the GOP to lose the seat—and even lose control of Congress—rather than retain elected officials who are seen as too liberal.

Distinguishing actions from words

The term implies that, in action, the politicians are really not "authentic" conservative Republicans (it does not imply they are Democrats). The critics claim to be loyal to conservatism, but do not claim to be loyal to the Republican party itself; they threaten to bolt if the party nominates a RINO, thus punishing the party by defeat. Political analysts note that no major Republican is involved in left-wing politics; (the table below shows all the least conservative Republican congressmen are in the middle of the spectrum).

Regional differences and political history

All political commentators have noted that the different states have different political centers of gravity. Thus a Republican who is considered mainstream in California or New York might be called RINO in South Carolina or Wyoming.

While the term is new, the concept of being a member of a party, but not representative of it is not uncommon in American political history. In 1912, former President Theodore Roosevelt, then-President William Howard Taft and Senator Robert LaFollette fought for ideological control of the Republican Party and each denounced the other two as "not really Republican." In the 1940s and 1950s the conservatives in the party fought it out, with the liberals like Tom Dewey, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Nelson Rockefeller and Richard Nixon usually winning. In the 1950s conservatives like Barry Goldwater were considered outside of the mainstream of the then-centrist GOP; they seriously considered leaving the GOP and forming a new conservative party in cooperation with conservative Democrats. [Rick Perlstein, Before the Storm (2001) p 13] After 1980 there were few if any liberals in prominent positions in the GOP, but there were numerous moderates, such as George H. W. Bush.

"Accused" RINOs and RINO hunters

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Rudy Giuliani and Colin Powell (to a lesser extent) have been labeled as Republican In Name Only by some conservatives who denounce them as too liberal.

An example of someone accused of being a RINO is Michael Bloomberg, mayor of New York City who switched parties from being a Democratic shortly before he ran for mayor because he correctly assumed that a Republican would be elected following the highly successful Republican mayor Rudy Giuliani. Bloomberg is a highly successful businessman with strong support from Wall Street. Republican Rhode Island Senator Lincoln Chafee, who has voted against the Congressional authorization for the Iraq War, against tax cuts, and even publicly announced that he would not vote for George W. Bush in the 2004 election. However the Republican establishment strongly supported his reelection in 2006.

The term RINO originated in the 1990s and came into widespread usage around 2000 [3]. Those Republicans who are labeled RINOs counter that the conservatives who call them RINOs are too far right and too politically naive. They point out that they can and do win in moderate and liberal areas and without their votes the Republicans would lose control of Congress. Furthermore the moderates in the Northeast and upper Midwest point out that "Yankees" founded the GOP in the first place, while most of the critics (especially in the South) are recent converts to the party.

Moderates say the “RINO” business is just a rhetorical device to exaggerate the importance of a couple issues that especially concern certain conservatives, most notably abortion and taxes.

The term RINO often comes into public discourse during Republican primaries. Many conservatives want the Republican party to defeat moderates so that the party will be more conservative.

Some conservative organizations use the term RINO to help describe some of their activities. California's National Federation of Republican Assemblies started the "RINO Hunters' Club" and the Club for Growth (which demands more tax cuts) started the "RINO Watch."

Democratic "DINOs"

The acronym has led to the analogous DINO, a Democrat In Name Only, referring to those Democratic office holders who are too conservative (when compared to the majority of Democratic office holders). The term Fox News liberal has also been used in this context. The two acronyms are, at the same time, puns on rhinoceros and dinosaur.

Both terms are used by more ideological members of either party to challenge fellow party members for their positions. In some cases, the platforms of the members in question are not even necessarily close to the opponents'— they just do not necessarily follow the party line in every case. An example is Senator Joe Lieberman, denounced by Democrats for his support of Bush's Iraq policy. Lieberman, however, is in the liberal mainstream of the Democratis on most domestic issues. Lieberman, who was defeated for renomination in the Connecticut Democratic primary in August 2006, but is running as an independent, said, "I'm worried that my party may become what we've accused the Republicans of, a kind of litmus-test party. If you don't agree with us 100 percent of the time, you don't agree with us." (Associated Press, Aug. 20, 2006)

Putative RINOs sometimes reply that they are "Raging RINOs" - Republicans / Independents Not Overdosed (on the Party Kool Aid)[4] "Kool Aid" in the name is a reference to the mass suicide in the Jonestown cult.

Anti-RINOism political groups

Several groups have attacked Republican politicians as RINOs:

• CFG — Club for Growth - Advocates fiscal restraint, tax cuts and limited regulation of commerce. [5]
• CWA — Concerned Women for America - Advocates opposition to gay marriage, anti-abortion legislation and restrictions on pornography. [6]
• CWF — Campaign for Working Families - advocates increased border security, repeal of gun control laws, abortion restrictions and support of a flag-burning amendment. [7]
• NFRA — National Federation of Republican Assemblies - advocates increased border security, repeal of gun control laws, abortion restrictions and support of a flag-burning amendment. [8]

Pro-RINOism political groups

• The Republican Main Street Partnership
• Republicans For Choice
• The Log Cabin Republicans
• The Wish List
• The Republican Majority For Choice
• Republicans For Environmental Protection
• IMP-PAC (Its My Party Too)

RINOism in primary elections

Two Republican senators who have drawn the most criticism and opposition from conservatives are Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania and Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island.

In 2004, Specter drew a conservative primary election challenger in Rep. Pat Toomey. Toomey had significant financial support from the Club for Growth while the Young Conservatives of Pennsylvania provided volunteers. While the Club for Growth opposed Specter's role in increased federal spending, many conservatives focused on Specter's pro-choice views on abortion. Specter was supported by the GOP establishment including President George W. Bush and Senator Rick Santorum. This support helped Specter survive the challenge by a narrow 17,000 votes.

In 2006, Chafee received over $1 million from national Republican party officials, especially the National Republican Senatorial Committee. Chaffee defeated a primary challenge by Steve Laffey the mayor of Cranston, Rhode Island. Laffey was chosen by the Club for Growth to teach a lesson to Republicans who strayed from the Club's ideology. The Club ignored repeated warnings that defeat of Chaffee would risk turning the Senate over to the Democrats.

Comparisons of liberal vs. moderate Republicans

John Nichols, a correspondent for The Nation (a left-leaning political magazine) argued in a recent article [9] that "Using the measures that progressives might reasonably apply to define a liberal... it is possible to point to just one [current Republican] senator, Rhode Island's Lincoln Chafee, and two members of the House, New York's Amo Houghton and Iowa's Jim Leach... A somewhat larger circle clings to the moderate GOP mantras of a Gerald Ford or a Richard Lugar, chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, but they are fading fast as a force in Congress."

While Delaware representative Mike Castle claims that there are 40-45 moderate Republicans in the House, Nichols remarks, "That's actually a bit of a stretch — either of the numbers or of the definition of a 'moderate'."

Lists of Rinos

Note: The publications and organizations listed below are neither part of nor associated with the Republican Party, although many of them are politically conservative.

Human Events Top 10 RINOs

Human Events magazine's list of the Top 10 RINOs (published December 27, 2005). Ranked by the editors of Human Events.[10]

1. Sen. Lincoln Chafee (Rhode Island)

2. Sen. Olympia Snowe (Maine)

3. Sen. Arlen Specter (Pennsylvania)

4. Sen. Susan Collins (Maine)

5. Rep. Christopher Shays (Connecticut)

6. Gov. George Pataki (New York)

7. Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (New York)

8. Gov. Mitt Romney (Massachusetts)

9. Rep. Michael Castle (Delaware)

10. Rep. Jim Leach (Iowa)

National Journal's Top 25 Liberal Republicans in the House of Representatives

National Journal magazine's list of the 25 most liberal Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2005 (published February 24, 2006).[11] Ranked by a weighted analysis of selected roll call votes by National Journal magazine.[12]

	Representative...	...is more liberal than __% of the House on these issues:
rank	Name	Economic	Social	Foreign	Average
1	Leach, Jim, IA-2	54	58	72	61.3
2	Paul, Ron, TX-14	54	55	72	60.3
3	Shays, Christopher, CT-4	53	55	53	53.7
4	Castle, Michael, DE-AL	51	58	49	52.7
5	Boehlert, Sherwood, NY-24	52	54	50	52.0
6	Johnson, Nancy, CT-5	51	54	50	51.7
7	Kirk, Mark, IL-10	49	57	48	51.3
8	Ehlers, Vernon, MI-3	46	55	52	51.0
9	Johnson, Tim, IL-15	52	51	49	50.7
10	Simmons, Rob, CT-2	51	54	47	50.7
11	Wilson, Heather, NM-1	49	55	47	50.3
12	Flake, Jeff, AZ-6	47	48	54	49.7
13	Gilchrest, Wayne, MD-1	48	53	47	49.3
14	Jones, Walter, NC-3	51	44	52	49.0
15	Ramstad, Jim, MN-3	52	43	51	48.7
16	Biggert, Judy, IL-13	42	52	51	48.3
17	Schwarz, Joe, MI-7	45	51	45	47.0
18	Bartlett, Roscoe, MD-6	45	49	46	46.7
19	LoBiondo, Frank, NJ-2	53	46	40	46.3
20	LaTourette, Steven, OH-14	50	45	42	45.7
21	LaHood, Ray, IL-18	46	44	48	46.0
22	Otter, Butch, ID-1	41	45	51	45.7
23	Bass, Charles, NH-2	43	47	45	45.0
24	Fitzpatrick, Mike, PA-8	53	47	34	44.7
25	Reichert, Dave, WA-8	45	44	45	44.7

Family Research Council's Top 10 RINOs in the House of Representatives

The Family Research Council's list of the Top 10 RINOs in the U.S. House of Representatives (published October 12, 2005). Ranked by an analysis of 13 votes representing a cross section of issues affecting the American family.[13]

1. Rep. Christopher Shays (Connecticut)

2. Rep. Michael Castle (Delaware)

3. Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (New York)

4. Rep. Mark Kirk (Illinois)

5. Rep. Jim Kolbe (Arizona) (tied for 5th)

5. Rep. Rob Simmons (Connecticut) (tied for 5th)

7. Rep. Wayne Gilchrest (Maryland) (tied for 7th)

7. Rep. Jim Leach (Iowa) (tied for 7th)

9. Rep. Mary Bono (California) (tied for 9th)

9. Rep. Nancy Johnson (Connecticut) (tied for 9th)

Notes

1. ^ "GOP" is a nickname widely used in the U.S. for the Republican Party, standing for "Grand Old Party."

See also

• Gypsy moth Republican
• Democrat In Name Only
• Blue Dog Democrats
• Boll Weevil Democrats
• Left-Right politics
• Right-wing politics
• Party switching
• Party switching in the United States
• Rockefeller Republican
• Third party

External links

• Definition and citations from The Word Spy website
• RINO Watch from the Club for Growth, with a list as of 2004 of 72 RINOs
• RINO Hunters Club and RINO weblog from the National Federation of Republican Assemblies
• Mommy, What's a RINO?, from Public Broadcasting System P.O.V. Documentary film website
• Death of a RINO, a 2002 column by Robert Novak
• John Nichols, "Hunting for RINOs" published in The Nation, September 13, 2004, p. 30-37.
• SavetheGOP.com A Website dedicated to opposing RINOs in the GOP