Your logic is so specious I honestly do not know where to begin dismantling it.

Your points are well taken. I will accept your distinction between moderates and RINOs readily enough. You also made enough valid points that I will accept your view that John McCain is not a RINO, though I personally believe him to be a liberal and unsuitable for office.

I do take issue with your notion that conservatives can not win in some states/districts. The truth is, conservatives CAN win all states. You used the RINOs in Maine as an example of Republicans having to settle for the “best” they can hope for. I beg to differ, if you look back over the last 20 years or so you see that conservatives can win in Maine. In fact, they only time Republicans have taken the state has been when they run conservatives.

We begin with 2008. McCain shares many aspects with Snowe and Collins, yet he got his snot knocked out of him in the state. He lost by 17%

Obama 57.71%
McCain 40.38%

In 2004 Bush also lost the state. Bush was not a conservative, not even close. But he didn’t stab the GOP in the back like McCain did. He lost the state by 9% which is quite a bit better than McCain managed.

Kerry 53.57%.
Bush 44.58%

In 2000 Bush ran as a “compassionate conservative” and lost the state to Gore. At first it seems like he only lost by 6%, but when you factor in that Nader was draining support from Gore in truth Bush lost by over 10%

Gore 49.09% + Nader 5.70% = 54.79%
Bush 43.97%

In 1996 good old “electable” Bob Dole ran. I remember people telling me during the primaries that we had to support him instead of Gramm or any of the conservatives in the race because he was a moderate with the best chance to beat Clinton. Dole lost by 20 points. Nuff said.

Clinton 51.62%
Dole 30.76%

In 1992 Bush senior tried to moderate his image (kind of like diluting water with more water) and lost the state to Clinton.

Clinton 38.77%
Bush 30.39%

In 1988 Bush ran as a conservative and carried the state.

Bush 55.34%
Dukakis 43.88%

In 1984, Reagan, certainly not a moderate, ABSOLUTELY not a RINO carried the state with 60% of the vote!

Reagan 60.83%
Mondale 38.78%

So riddle me this Batman. Why is that Maine, a state where the best Republicans can supposedly hope for are Snowe and Collins, only voted for the Republican presidential candidates when we ran solid conservatives. But when we ran moderates/liberals/RINOs like Snowe and Collins they rejected them?

The fact of the matter is that Republicans only get elected when he stick to our core values and conservative principles. Scott Brown won because he listened to the message that the tea partiers were sending to politicians and he wised up. This November the same thing is going to happen in Nevada. The candidate who actually stands up for the values that ordinary Americans are sending at tea parties across the nation will defeat Communist Reid and his far left agenda.

The conservatives are taking over. The RINOs like Dennis Nolan and Bill Raggio better watch out. A primary challenge and recall are coming along with their names on them.

Scott Brown in Massachusetts is just one such example. Would you rather have the Democrat – and the super majority Harry Reid would have retained with her – or the moderate Republican?

Here are my two primary points about “moderate” Republicans.

1.) They should be welcomed and included from Democrat states/districts where a conservative Republican wouldn’t have a chance of winning.

2.) While moderates should have a seat at the GOP table, they shouldn’t be at the HEAD of the GOP table.

Republicans should challenge moderates in primaries in states/districts where a candidate doesn’t have to be a moderate to win the seat.

Finally, I draw a distiction between a moderate and a RINO. A RINO is a moderate who doesn’t just disagree with conservatives on a few issues, but who gives aid-and-comfort to the opposition or consistently undermines the party on key, critically important votes. Lincoln Chaffee and Arlen Specter were RINOs who should have been run out of the party a long time ago.

I don’t consider John McCain a RINO. But I do consider him a moderate on enough issues that he should be challenged in a primary since we know Arizona will elect conservative Republicans. On the other hand, the RINO Twin Sisters in Maine might be the best Republicans can hope for from that state…..unfortunately.

Chuck, what is wrong with only providing support to people with conservative bonafides? Isn’t that the only way we will get all of these damn RINOs out of out midst.