If an election is between a DINO and a RINO, who do you vote for?

[elperromagico]

No third party candidates.

[MollyStark]

1. Which one is pro-choice?

That's who I vote for.

[elperromagico]

3. Assume a Lincoln Chafee vs. a Ben Nelson,

or something like that.

[autorank]

20. Nelson would vote for Democratic leadership. No contest, Nelson.

[flaminbats]

21. Linc Chafee is a real democrat, Ben Nelson is a RINO..

but Mary Landrieu verses John McCain would be a tough choice!

[name not needed]

2. Third Party Candidate

[elperromagico]

5. No such animal in this race.

[yellowcanine]

4. I'll go with the hippo

[Celeborn Skywalker]

6. I'd vote

for an economically liberal, socially conservative democrat, before I'd vote for a corporate whore, socially liberal, republican.

[gumby]

7. Dinos sometimes behave correctly,

RINOS ALWAYS support the fascists on the Real issues.

Just look at "maverick" John McCain.

[MADem]

29. Yeah, even a dumb DINO understands the

"enforcement of party discipline" when it comes to a tough vote. Because if they DON'T 'get it,' they end up trying to run for reelection in increasingly expensive contests without any help from the DNC.

And Howard has his hands on the pursestrings, so they'd best not even think about roaming too far afield...

[mattclearing]

8. WTF?

Who voted for the RINO?

Like McCain? Who the hell could vote for McCain against a Democrat?

Leave Joe Lieberman out of it.

:)

[rockymountaindem]

9. Isn't the RINO more like the Democrats in that case?

[Stand and Fight]

23. Yes... Absolutely. n/t

[madfloridian]

10. The goal is to run someone against DINOs in the primaries.

Then we won't have to make that decision. It will take a while.

[Clark2008]

19. There aren't too many of them in the South

Maybe in Florida, which is south, but not "South," but, surely you know what I mean.

[ChiciB1]

25. Totally Correct...

And one of them to replace is Bill Nelson. Still looking!!

[earthside]

11. I vote THIRD Party!

Sorry, that's reality, I'm not selling out anymore ... no matter what a "false choice" poll like this tries to make me do.

[elperromagico]

14. No, you don't vote third party. Why?

Because I didn't make it an option in the poll. :D

[applegrove]

12. Democrats either 'make' their own plurality or we hand the country over

to the elites to remake the measure of a man to be 'how often you win' instead of 'content of your heart'.

[RealDems]

13. Write-in

I've done that before. Not necessarily in the case of a DINO v. RINO, but in the rare instance when I really can't bring myself for a particular Democrat somewhere on the ticket. I've never voted Republican or third party, and I doubt I would make an exception.

[chieftain]

15. Dino . Control of either house would give us subpoena

power . The world could be very different if we had the ability to investigate these crooks . So even in the case of Joe Lieberman , I would vote Democratic , though I would head home immediately to shower after casting the ballot.

[Clarkie1]

16. Who are they?

What are their stands on the issues of importance? Are they credible? What is their experience, background, knowledge, and wisdom? Do they share your values?

That's all that matters to any patriotic American.

[safi0]

17. Right now I'd have

To go with the DINO because at the end of the day a DINO is a vote for Harry Reid as majority leader while a RINO is a vote for Frist

[paineinthearse]

18. Is this a trick question?

[doc03]

22. This area is like 2/3 Democrat and all our local elected

officials run as Democrats but many are Dino's. The one exception is Bob Ney (R) but thankfully we lost him through redistricting and we now have Ted Strickland (D).

[demwing]

24. For What Office?

Senate - I'll vote the DINO

Anything else, it depends...

[cestpaspossible]

26. Pretty much a no-brainer if you understand politics. nt

[adwon]

27. This seems pointless

The central question is what defines 'in name only.' The extreme example of Zell Miller? Zell was actually a Democrat in decent standing until 2004. He's pretty conservative, but he's also the governor who took the Stars and Bars off the Georgia capitol. I'll never understand why he pimped for W, but until then, he was just a conservative Democrat.

What about Lloyd Bentsen? He was quite conservative yet ran with a fairly liberal Massachusetts governor in 1988.

Would FDR be considered a DINO? He was distrustful of his own programs (check out Schlesinger's Age of Roosevelt trilogy). He was a hawk. He signed the Smith Act, which required loyalty oaths of all government employees. The censorship laws in WW2 were extremely strict, so thousands of communists and fascists were jailed for the duration.

Would Truman be a DINO? Truman dropped the bomb. He was the original Cold Warrior. Revisionists argue that Truman started the Cold War by supporting the Greek monarchists over the Tito-supported communist insurgency.

JFK? This is the man who said 'bear any burden, pay any price.' He campaigned on the issue of the 'missile gap.' He greatly expanded the commitment to Southeast Asia. He forced a reopening of the Berlin highway in 1961, even sending his VP to show dedication. His commitment to civil rights was fairly weak (when compared to many other Democrats). He and his brother, at the least, did not protest the assassination of Diem.

I think the label DINO is fallacious. The underlying assumption is that the Democratic party has always been virtuous and liberal. That assumption is false. Dixiecrats voted for the New Deal. Before Pearl Harbor, many liberals would have let Europe burn. The party has always been a conglomeration of a variety of political attitudes and traditions. Throwing the label DINO around does little but whittle down the remnants of the old FDR coalition, which was the most successful political coalition in American history.

[Piperay]

28. DINO

because it adds to our numbers in Congress and anyway there is no way in hell I could ever vote for anyone with and 'R' after their name! :puke: If the DINO was truly HORRIBLE like Zell Miller I would vote for no one, just leave it blank.

[dbt]

30. Time to give the RINOs a chance, dontcha think?

Exactly where have the DINOs landed us? Besides which, we could use a BIG dose of fiscal conservatism right about now--provided the RINO has not renounced that portion of the ideology.

[CWebster]

31. The answer to Q's observation

as to why we are in the box which offers little more than variations on a theme.


Last night I caught the end of one of those persistant Shiavo hysteria reports on CNN. The spin suggested that although supporters of the fanatical Right are the minority they "would remember come election time", and I thought--progressives are marginalized as a minority although their views reflect the common good---how come their votes don't seem to matter come election time? Because the centrists can count on them to cave every time, whereas the Right weilds their power at the voting booth.

When is not as bad no longer good enough?

As far as I am concerned, it is now.

[tx_dem41]

32. I can't believe that 30% have voted for RINO.

This is DEMOCRATICUnderground.com isn't it?

[salin]

33. Depends on context

1) are we close to getting a majority - than Dino for leadership reasons? If not, the second question comes to play:

2) is the Rhino more likely to vote against the repub bills/power grabs or is the Dino?

That is - first to get a majority block in the legislative body; and if that is not possible - or if the majority is big enough then focusing on HOW strongly either candidate is likely to buck the repubs.

Btw, there is only one time in a senate race that I have favored the sitting, liberal republican over a conservative democrat challenger - that was Connecticut circa 1988 - and the republican later went independent as a Gov in Connecticut (Lowell Wiecker).