Some of what I’ve written has befuddled those used to the conservative rhetoric that permeate the hard line media. The spin doctors on the Right have taken pages off the Liberal handbook and created cute sound bites that does for the absolutist what it did for the crazy Left. When someone points out the flaws in their rhetoric, the reader is at first confused, then angry, and finally hides behind the accusation that I am making zero sense.

So for these “common sense” challenged people, I offer the following detailed explanation:

RINO—acronym for Republican In Name Only.

I can’t take credit for this. After explaining to my European Business Partner, a Tory (British equivalent of a Republican), that most hard liners refuse to call themselves Republicans, it was pointed out that these Conservatives were in fact Republican In Name Only. I loved it. They, of course hate being referred to as such because I suspect they know deep down that it’s true.

ABSOLUTIST

…are those who are incapable of compromising. They will frequently use the sanctimonious proclamation that they are standing on their “principles”. Of course they never do so when putting up with a lousy boss or interfering in-laws; somehow they’ve managed to survive the knocking on their conscience when faced with the choice of providing for their families and keeping peace in the family or telling everyone how they “really” feel and losing it all.

Absolutist see things in Black and White…and miss all the shades that make life interesting and victories that are sweet because it took a little finesse.

Absolutist scare most people, not because their beliefs are unwavering but because beliefs need wiggle room to grow.

And because there is no space for doubt or question, absolutist causes will almost always fail.

REPUBLICANS

… do not think that "loyalty" and "support" is expendable...it is something that "friends, family, and allies" do and something that they can and SHOULD expect in return.

They are not for "job protection" even if it’s to protect American jobs from illegal Mexican workers. Republicans work too hard to give out blank checks for government projects like building a wall on the southern border. Many own their own mom & pop shops and do not make war on business. Most adhere to the value of personal responsibility and have little time or inclination to blame it all on the government.

Republicans are NOT racist; you won’t hear them use terms like “wet back” or imply that all Mexicans are “unwashed” and “criminals”.

Most of all, the Republican party is the party of…REPUBLICANS, not Libertarian, Reaganites, Buchananites, Gingrichites or any 3^rd party wannabes.

INDEPENDENTS

…make up the majority of voters. According to political guru on the Left (Dick Morris) and on the Right (Karl Rove): 20% will vote either Democrat or Republican. It is the MIDDLE that is liberal on some issues and conservative on others; that does the choosing of the politicians that govern this nation.

Hard liners on either side do NOT win national elections. In fact they don’t even win primaries, which technically they should do well in since they are in effect “preaching to the choir”. This is because they appeal to that 20%…and leaves a whopping 80% that feel very uncomfortable with politicians that are incapable of working with politicians that do not share their point of view.

Working with the other party is NOT a sign of character weakness…it is what politicians do—or at least what they are supposed to do since there ARE two parties in our political system who HAS to compromise to get anything done.

REAGANITES

…are strange creatures. They dream of the kind of leader/president that Reagan never was. He NEVER got tough on illegals…honest. He NEVER cut government spending…in fact he had one of the highest deficits. He NEVER refused to work with the enemy…he wanted the Soviets to align themselves with America to fight space invaders! He got tough with a small union that very few people heard of but left his California state (of which he had served as governor) union riddled.

Granted, he was an eloquent communicator—with talented speech writers who had all the time in the world to make him look and sound good. There was no great war to fight…no 9/11 economy and dot com stocks to rebuild…no fanatical media that felt a God-given need to nit pick on him 24/7.

Yet he managed to cut and run out of Libya and to say things like “trees suck up all the oxygen.”

The man was inspirational but he was not perfect.

I doubt that today, if we could somehow resurrect the man or clone him, that he could live up to the hype that the Reaganites claim for him. No one, flesh and blood, could.

The truly sad part is that Reagan’s legacy has nowhere else to go but down.

BUCHANANITES & 3^RD PARTY WANNABES

…will forever be losers because they appeal to such a small number of voters.

The problem is that they are loud and vocal. And because they present themselves as “conservatives” and “the base” of the Republican party, they hurt the GOP, not the Dems. People who might agree on the need to win the war in Iraq or that marriage should be between a man and a woman recoil at the vitriolic language used by anti-illegal proponents and the unforgiving preaching by the religious right.

HYPOCRISY IS THY NAME

The RINO press assured the American voter for 4 years that the ONLY man they could trust to send their children to war was President Bush…after 2004, when he could no longer run…this same man could NOT be trusted to appoint an elite to the SCOTUS. I don’t know about you, but to MOST parents, you can’t ask for a higher trust than one that involves their children.

…Bush and the GOP have NOT changed. The RINO press and their minions have…why wasn’t the illegal immigration issue, pork spending, big government the issue in 2004 that they became in 2006?

Let us talk about “principles”…where was Laura Ingraham’s, Peggy Noonan, Rich Lowry and the NRO before 2004? Why did they remain silent about these “critical, conservative” issues when the presidency was on the line?

And finally…just what was gained from the tantrum over immigration?