I agree with you there 100%. I'm also not one who thinks the party should try to get rid of all RINOs. We're better off with whatever stripe of Republican that can be elected in the Northeast and other liberal areas. And my problem with McCain runs far deeper than his RINO tendencies. He's no longer an asset to the national party and national election efforts.
And, it is a real problem if a RINO becomes the presidential candidate. Some think they can always take the conservative Republican's vote for granted, but that's been proven wrong more than once. It's the conservative, red states that consistently go Republican, and if the national party thinks they can ignore the important issues of voters in those states, then they'll continue to weaken the party.
BTW, Giuliani could probably pull New York City voters, but could he win the state of New York? Odds are good that enough of the Conservative base would drop out that he'd lose the state. Plus, there's no way he'd be attractive to Democrats in New Jersey or Massachusetts.
Most Republican RINOs or so-called "moderates" are simply not attractive to most of the Conservative base, and cannot draw enough of the Democrat rank and file to make it worth running them for office.
Sarah Palin won in Alaska by drawing Democrat rank and file voters to her ticket. In contrast the most recent Senatorial campaign in Alaska saw the Democrat canidate using his Department of Justice contacts in Washington concocting a bizarre show-trial against his opponent, Senator Stevens.
After the election it was reported the DOJ had lied, misrepresented the law, and Stevens was actually innocent.
That sort of corrupt practice has to be accounted for in the calculus you use to set up a national win. Self proclaimed "Moderates" are incapable of doing that.