THE GREAT RINO HUNT

Tea Party Express Chairman Mark Williams says the teabaggers are "on a RINO hunt," out to drive to extinction the Republicans In Name Only who are holding public offices. This is from a CNN story of April 12, 2010.

Williams: this guy has to be a real sweetheart. He says, "The Democrats at least stand there and tell me they hate me, and tell me that they hate America. These Republicans smile at me, shake my hand and then stab me in the back."

We all know damn well Democrats never told Williams that they hate America. And it's unlikely any have told him that they hate him, though it's easy to see how they could. I have never heard lies and slander in such quantities as are oozing from the "tea party movement."

Man, I'd like to see some Republicans fight back against these bullying conformity-freaks! Just once, some moderate Republican should tell them where to go. Better still, Williams and his ilk should have to face a charging RINO every time they pull this crap!

You have heard it speculated that there would have been no Holocaust if the Jews had had guns in their hands whenever there was a knock on the door and had gone down fighting, taking a few Nazis with them each time. I am skeptical about that; but something like that principle might apply here. The teabaggers are used to putting the hurt on people with impunity. Cancel the impunity and see what happens.

There are also DINOs, as you know: Blue Dog Democrats who vote with the Republicans a lot of the time. And there was talk by some angry activists about primarying some DINO members of Congress. But those challenges largely haven't materialized, and everything is copacetic now that healthcare has passed.

Anyway, the Dems don't have a taste for fascism. They believe diversity of views is a strength, not something to be punished. So there will be no great DINO hunt, no mindless quest for ideological purity on the left. And the Republicans, by being so intolerant and uniformity-minded, have hogtied their ability to win over moderate-to-conservative Dems.

Let the RINOs take note of Williams's words and the teabaggers' purgation agenda. You sensible and well-intentioned people who are still in the GOP: you don't want to share a party with people like that, especially when they're the ones calling the shots in it.

Time to start yourselves a party, therefore. Time to jump from the Republicult to a new, moderate party, as the best of the Whigs did when the Republican party was new and still American.