One used to be able to consider Republican/Conservative as synonymous. And hence as Republican office holders especially began their drift towards the left, some stopping by in the "center" for a while RINO, which applied to self proclaimed conservatives no longer supporting or voting for conservative ideals, came into existence.
Actually, in my view the term RINO is outmoded. It should now be changed to
Conservative In Name Oonly - CINO!
The working definition of "Compassionate Conservative" became evident on many domestic issues quite early on during the GW years.
John McCain, unfortunately is cut from that same cloth and many domestic issues.
The only thing I know for certain is that Obama and his gang of Democrats are progressive socialists and I must oppose them even if it means voting for another CINO, which in and of itself doesn't give me much solace.
But heck I am no longer even a big "R"epublican rather a little "r"epublican! So I could no longer be classified as a RINO, I guess. ;-)
“One used to be able to consider Republican/Conservative as synonymous. “
When? If not today then the answer is never. Actually that is not true and has never been true. In fact, the party has gotten more conservative since Goldwater/Reagan. THE REPUBLICAN PARTY TODAY, EVEN WITH MCCAIN AT THE HEAD IS AS CONSERVATIVE AS ITS EVER BEEN.
There have always been liberal elements in the party (go back to Sen Bob LaFollette who turned progressive, or Teddy R. who in 1912 was the guy to the left of Wilson the Democrat running as a Bull Moose party) and it is only recently that the Republicans have been the conservative-only or conservative-mostly party. That’s a testament to the work of Bill Buckley, Goldwater, Reagan and others who moved the party from the 1960s to the 1980s to the party it is today.