DINOs and RINOs

[Donald Ian Rankin]

One of the commoner terms of abuse I see flung about on DU is "DINO". Conversely, right-wing political sites very often brand people RINOs.

The interesting thing is that the left's idea of where DINOs begin is a long way to the left of the right's idea of where RINOs end, and I've never seen a left-winger admit that a Republican is RINO or vice versa.

My view, for what it's worth, is that whether you're a Democrat or a Republican is a matter of affiliation, not principles. The political positions of a party change over time - 150 years ago the Republicans were the good guys. A D/RINO is someone nominally affiliated with one party, while working for the success of the other.

I only know of two high-profile DINOs - Miller and Lieberman. The likes of the flowerpot Nelsons may be relatively conservative Democrats, but they're still just as much Democrats as relatively liberal Democrats, because they're trying to help get other Democrats elected. Miller and Lieberman may not be noticeably to the right of those two, but they're trying to help the Republicans.

There's also Bernie Sanders, who's in some ways the opposite of a DINO.

I don't know of any high-profile RINOs - so far as I know, even the comparatively left-wing Republicans like Chafee are still loyal to their party. Possibly Schwartznegger is moving in that direction.