Jan Ireland
Meet the RINOs: Republicans in name only
By Jan Ireland
They are soldiers, though not in the conventional sense. Immediately identifiable, they are not. The façade is just like you, but they are really the enemy at the gate.
Their speech, dress and mannerisms are yours. But something about them is false. Perhaps the way they go after the weak. Meet the RINOs. Republicans in name only. The invidious.
If you wanted to influence voters away from a particular party, how would you go about it? The obviously opposite are easily combated. The strident, immediately recognized. But what if you're almost, almost one of the group?
In dress, speech and mannerisms — they could be you. They're pleasant, in a deliberate way. They join in. They always turn up. Some hold office, go to conventions, manage to be appointed as delegates for the group.
At luncheons they speak in individual quiet conversations. Among the whole, they make the obvious, tired jokes. If sometimes the jokes inexplicably reach to barbs, they guilelessly explain that away.
Eventually, they are ever so quietly at the center of problems that develop.
Membership drops off. People don't speak of quitting, but their attendance lapses. The impact has been so subtle, your fears have found no ground. In the sense of getting along, or in the fear that only you question, you forbear confrontation. RINOs count on your being this nice.
Mistake. These are smooth operators, insidious as well as invidious. They should be faced.
The weak among the group are the first to fall. RINOs, closely behind the victims they have maneuvered to the front, act as puppeteer. The weak, sure that they have found a friend and protector, succumb. What's wrong with supporting just one democrat, one that's really conservative; one that's done so much for us; for the sake of bipartisanship.
The answer is simple.
The voting record.
If the candidate holds our values, and supports our goals, he will be in our party. One or two issues where the vote was conservative, cannot mask the many critical issues where the vote was not. Republicans have given in on too many occasions. Let the candidate join us publicly, or lose our support.
And don't be fooled. The national downturn of the democrat party will ensure that no democrat will be allowed out of the voting lockstep. The filibusters on the national scene, and the absconding from duty on the Texas scene, show us their demand for fealty.
Much as the communists infiltrated deeply into the highest levels of American government a few decades ago, RINOs now infiltrate deeply into the Republican party.
No doubt some of the plants were orchestrated decades ago. Stealthily. More than one political family has placed a member in the opposite party. How else to know which precincts to block walk — right after the opponent has finished there?
RINOs no doubt are sitting in on 2004 strategy sessions as you read this. It is this enemy that Republicans must identify and root out. They pose more of a danger than the most openly rabid partisan democrat. Especially to the weak.
© Jan Ireland
They are soldiers, though not in the conventional sense. Immediately identifiable, they are not. The façade is just like you, but they are really the enemy at the gate.
Their speech, dress and mannerisms are yours. But something about them is false. Perhaps the way they go after the weak. Meet the RINOs. Republicans in name only. The invidious.
If you wanted to influence voters away from a particular party, how would you go about it? The obviously opposite are easily combated. The strident, immediately recognized. But what if you're almost, almost one of the group?
In dress, speech and mannerisms — they could be you. They're pleasant, in a deliberate way. They join in. They always turn up. Some hold office, go to conventions, manage to be appointed as delegates for the group.
At luncheons they speak in individual quiet conversations. Among the whole, they make the obvious, tired jokes. If sometimes the jokes inexplicably reach to barbs, they guilelessly explain that away.
Eventually, they are ever so quietly at the center of problems that develop.
Membership drops off. People don't speak of quitting, but their attendance lapses. The impact has been so subtle, your fears have found no ground. In the sense of getting along, or in the fear that only you question, you forbear confrontation. RINOs count on your being this nice.
Mistake. These are smooth operators, insidious as well as invidious. They should be faced.
The weak among the group are the first to fall. RINOs, closely behind the victims they have maneuvered to the front, act as puppeteer. The weak, sure that they have found a friend and protector, succumb. What's wrong with supporting just one democrat, one that's really conservative; one that's done so much for us; for the sake of bipartisanship.
The answer is simple.
The voting record.
If the candidate holds our values, and supports our goals, he will be in our party. One or two issues where the vote was conservative, cannot mask the many critical issues where the vote was not. Republicans have given in on too many occasions. Let the candidate join us publicly, or lose our support.
And don't be fooled. The national downturn of the democrat party will ensure that no democrat will be allowed out of the voting lockstep. The filibusters on the national scene, and the absconding from duty on the Texas scene, show us their demand for fealty.
Much as the communists infiltrated deeply into the highest levels of American government a few decades ago, RINOs now infiltrate deeply into the Republican party.
No doubt some of the plants were orchestrated decades ago. Stealthily. More than one political family has placed a member in the opposite party. How else to know which precincts to block walk — right after the opponent has finished there?
RINOs no doubt are sitting in on 2004 strategy sessions as you read this. It is this enemy that Republicans must identify and root out. They pose more of a danger than the most openly rabid partisan democrat. Especially to the weak.
© Jan Ireland
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