Ronald Reagan was a RINO

by Rod Williams, Dec. 31, 2010 - Even conservative icon former President Ronald Reagan could not pass muster today with the faux-conservative populist faction of the Republican party that fashions themselves as the "real Republicans." Reagan would not pass the Party Purity test and would be denounced as a RINO.

Below is a list of Reagan's sins that would get him denounced as a RINO and targeted for purging from the party.

• His background: Reagan was once a liberal Democrat, an admirer of Franklin D. Roosevelt, and active supporter of New Deal policies. He was an ex-Hollywood actor and an ex-labor union leader. 

• He would fail the "family values" and religious test: He was divorced, had a poor relationship with his children, had a gay son, and he did not attend church regularly.

• He raised taxes: He signed laws that raised taxes 11 times and the 1982 tax hike was the largest hike in history at that time.

• He supported and Congress passed into law Immigration reform or "amnesty for illegal aliens."

• National debt: Our national debt more than tripled during Reagan’s time in office. We went from a major creditor nation to a leading debtor nation.

• Reagan compromised: He "worked across the aisle", he negotiated, he cut deals. One of his most successful deals was the 1983 agreement extending the Social Security trust fund's solvency for a couple of generations by raising the retirement age and expanding social security to government employees.

• He appointed liberal judges: Judge Vaughn Walker who recently struck down California's proposition 8 which barred gay people from marrying was a Reagan appointee. 

• Reagan accomplished arms control: Reagan made bold, some would say radical, proposals for nuclear arms reductions. Reagan proposed the abolition of all nuclear-armed missiles. Reagan and Gorbachev eventually concluded the landmark Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) agreement and established the foundation for the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) process.

• Reagan advocated playing nice: Regan's 11th Commandment was, "Thou shalt not speak ill of any other republican.” He was civil. He advocated a "big tent" Republican Party. He courted those outside the party. He reached out to “Reagan Democrats." In order to build a majority he campaigned for many people with whom he disagreed.

Yep, Reagan was a RINO.

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Names to call Republicans

A Republican with whom you disagree is a "Rino.”  A Republican with whom you really disagree is a "Rino Neo-con Republican." Some Republicans are " dyed-in-the-wool Rino, neo-con Republican." If you want to play the class envy card you can call a Republican a "Country Club Republican."  Thus we have the "neo-con, Country Club, dyed-in-the wool Rino." If a Republican ever changes his mind or reverses his position when circumstances change he may be a  "flip-flopping, Rino, Country club, neo-con Republicans."  We also have "traitor republican Rinos." And then we have the "establishment insider-old boy network Republicans."  We also have "Rockefeller Republicans" and "Blue Blood Republicans."

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You might be a Rino.

by Rod Williams, Dec. 28, 2010 - Are you a Rino? RINO is the acronym for "Republican in Name Only." It is the new invective to hurl at fellow Republicans with whom you disagree. Republicans are real good at snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. One way they do that is by driving from their midst anyone who does not agree with them 100% of the time on all points. Holier-than-thou "real" Republicans want to purge the Party of all but the pure in heart. Their favorite sport is the circular firing squad.

Some famous Rinos are William F. Buckley, Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon, both Bushs, John McCain, George Will, and David Brooks. There are a lot of Rinos. Our own Senators Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker are Rinos.

There are only a few "Real" Republicans and they include Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage, and Ann Coulter. We can't be sure about Glen Beck.

I must be a Rino; I get told I am a lot. I generally want to enlarge the Party, not shrink it. I tend to think that if someone agrees with me 51% of the time, I want us to be on the same side. Like Ronald Reagan, I am a "big tent" kind of Republican. That makes me a Rino.

Below is a list to use to determine if you are a Rinos.

• If you supported the Party’s presidential candidate in 2008, you might be a Rino.

• If you supported the START treaty because it leaves our country with enough nuclear warheads to blow any attacker to Kingdom Come and because the President committed to an $85 billion, 10-year plan that would make sure that our weapons work and because it allows for inspection of Russian warheads and because our military leaders say it does nothing to interfere with the development of our missile defense system and because the last six Republican Secretaries of State supported it, you might be a Rino.

•  If you think that maybe-just maybe, there could be something to this global warming theory and if you have any doubts that all of the scientist who endorse it are part of a grand liberal conspiracy, you might be a Rino.

• If you think that at some point we need to pass some sort of legislation (similar to that proposed by George W. Bush), that will document the illegal immigrants who are in this country and allow an earned path to citizenship for some of them (after paying back taxes and a penalty), and work permits for some others, you might be a Rino.

• If you think that Barack Obama, was born in Hawaii and is an American citizen, you might be a Rino.

•  If you have any doubts that Barack Obama is a Muslim, you might be a Rino.

• If you think that the Muslim faith, practiced by 1.2 to 1.57 billion people or about 20% of the world’s population, is really a religion, then you might be a Rino.

• If you think the First Amendment is just as important as the Second or the Tenth, you might be a Rino.
   
• If you think the First Amendment applies to followers of the Muslim faith and they have the right to build a house of worship in Murfressboro, you might be a Rino.
   
• If you think it is OK for foreigners to own property in America and you are not absolutely outraged that some illegal immigrants have Visa cards and bank accounts and can get loans and you do not think it wise to take power away from the private sector and transfer that power to the government to decide who can get loans and visa cards and bank accounts, then you might be a Rino.
   
• If you agree with the late William F. Buckley and religious right leader Pat Robertson that we should decriminalize marijuana, you might be a Rino.
   
• If you do not think “compromise” is a dirty word, you might be a Rino.
   
• If you think “pragmatism” is a virtue, you might be a Rino.
   
• If you think “electability” should be a consideration in choosing your party’s candidates, you might be a Rino.

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Holy Smoke! Pat Robertson advocates decriminalization of Marijuana

The Reverend Pat Robertson,  influential Christian right leader, 1988 Republican candidate for the Republican Presidential nomination, and founder and president of the Christian Broadcasting Network has been known to say some controversial and outrageous things, such as that the earthquake disaster in Haiti is a result of Haiti's long ago deal with the devil and that hurricane Katrina was God's punishment for America's abortion policy. Now, he is creating controversy by talking sense.

'We're locking up people that take a couple of puffs of marijuana and the next thing they know they've got 10 years. They've got mandatory sentences and these judges just ... throw up their hands and say there's nothing we can do," said Robertson recently.

"We've got to take a look at what we're considering crimes and that's one of them," Robertson added. "I'm not exactly for the use of drugs. Don't get me wrong. But I just believe that criminalizing marijuana, criminalizing the possession of a few ounces of pot and that kind of thing, it's costing us a fortune and it's ruining young people. They go into prison as youths and they come out as hardened criminals, and that's not a good thing." (link)

Wow, what has he been smoking? God bless Pat Robertson.

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