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Inspired by a reader from Salem, last week we launched a game to invent a new meaning for the acronym RINO. For years thats referred to Republicans in name only, but more recently the insults taken on a new level of viciousness.

Thats because Donald Trump vehemently hurls it at any Republican who publicly rejects his evidence-free claims that President Joe Biden stole the 2020 election. And certain Trump acolytes have begun emulating his behavior.

One is Del. Marie March, R-Floyd, who in a recent fundraising email blamed Richmond swamp RINOs for thwarting pro-gun legislation she introduced in the 2023 legislative session.

Artist Celeste Tethal desired a kinder and gentler word-set to describe her rational conservative friends whove turned their backs on 2020s sore loser.

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I published Tethals challenge in the March 21 column. Readers delivered and kept me laughing all last week. Here we go with their suggestions, which number in the dozens.

Betsy Biesenbach of Roanoke, a longtime freelancer for this paper, was first out of the gate. Her RINO proposal hit my inbox at 5:44 a.m. the day of publication.

She offered, Rejecting [an] Insanity-Normalizing Organization.

Tom Gourley of Penhook proposed Reasonable Insightful Never [Trump] Organizers.

Narrows resident J. Lewis Webbs suggestion required neither an extra word nor article. He suggested RINO signifies Republicans Intelligent Not Outrageous.

Jim Lawrence of Blacksburg offered something close: Republicans Informed, Not Outrageous.

Roanoke Countys Jeanne Larsen proposed five slogans for RINO. The best two were Righteously Indignant Nutcase Opponent, and Reckon Im Not One-a-them.

(The retired schoolteacher also created a feminine-gendered version, RINA, which she said signifies Raving Idiots Neednt Apply and Reagans [ghost] Is Nearly Apoplectic.)

Christiansburgs Jeff Crowder came up with six suggestions. One was Republicans In [a] Nightmare Ongoing. Another was Republicans In Need Of (fill in the blank).

I filled that in, and got Republicans In Need Of Sanity. And now we have a nifty plural acronym, RINOS. Thanks, Jeff!

The farthest-away reply came from California and it was brutally cynical. Peter Kleinman of Oakland offered no suggestion. Instead, he chided the game as a childish exercise to even care how jerks demean each other. What a joy-killer, eh?

Blacksburg artist Sally Mook offered five proposals. One was Reasonable Individuals Nixing Obstructionists. A second one: Refuting Insipid Nefarious Oddballs.

Reality Is Not Optional

Three readers independently suggested RINO ought to mean Reality Is Not Optional. Theyre Gregg Williams, from the Hollins area of Roanoke County; Dr. Jim Reinhard of Salem; and Ed Vigen of Blacksburg. (Another suggestion, by Reinhard, stands out for its creative punctuation Really? Im Now Odd?)

Bob Miller, who said he lives in the (mostly) Democratic enclave of Blacksburg, came up with another nifty phrase for rational GOPers Republicans In Normal Orbit.

Ingeniously, he also coined a new acronym to describe party members recovering from years of QAnonsense, Trumpism and election denialism: Republicans Accelerating Toward Sanity, aka RATS.

Rick Barrow of Christiansburg devised Ruthless Ideologues Negating Officeholders. Accurately, that captures the actions of GOPers who marginalized and ultimately drove House Republicans Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger out of office, for participating on the Select January 6 Committee.

Salems Matthew Keele managed to work a hue into his suggestion: Right In Negating Orange.

Anne Hunt of Franklin County offered four word sets to describe those she characterized as Republicans who seem to be exercising freedom of thought. One: Republicans, Impartial, Nonpartisan, Open-minded. A second: Republicans, Independent, Not Owned.

Nancy Duval of Roanoke had a minor dyslexic moment when composing three different entries. They were: Really Observant Non Ignoramuses; Really Observant Non Idiots; and Rationally Opinionated Non Idiots.

Those are worthy efforts, except she confused the vowel order. Her ideas form the acronym RONI. When I brought that to Duvals attention, she replied, Well goodness gracious it was way too early in the morning I guess.

Whoops. Have another cup of coffee, Nancy!

Charles McLaughlin of Daleville suggested two clever definitions for RINO. One was, Reveres Institutions, Not Oligarchies. The other: Resists Ignorant Nutjob Opportunists.

Hardys Sandi Saunders devised Republican Integrity Not Obsolete.

Retching Inside, Nonplussed Out

Michael Holloway of York County had a few suggestions. Two of them were Relatively Intelligent Nonsense Opposers, and Republicans in Nostalgic Opposition.

Roanokes Phillip Coffey suggested Rallying in National Opportunity or Rightly Impressive National Orators, to describe traditional Main Street Republicans such as former presidents Dwight Eisenhower and George H.W. Bush and the late U.S. senator from Indiana, Richard Lugar.

Coffey, who worked in mental health treatment or 35 years, said if RINO was applied to Trumpers, it could signify Rightly Insane Nutty Opportunists.

My apologies to former patients in using those words, he added.

Vicky Rowland of Salem came up with Reliable Intelligent Notable Observer.

Katrina White of Salem offered Republican Incumbents Need Ousting. Steve Huppert of Christiansburg proposed Return Intelligence Now Obtrusively. And Debbie Warren of Blacksburg suggested Reduce Insults Now, Outlaws!

I also heard from one of Tethals conservative friends who shares concern for the level of disdain Trump has brought to the term RINO. Bill Hill said he knows Tethal through the League of Roanoke Artists, to which both belong.

I am one of her conservative Republican friends, although she has no reason to be aware of that, he wrote. I am one of those Republicans who cannot stand Trump (ditto Biden, of course).

DJT is scarcely a Republican or conservative at all. I have been both since my college days more than a half century ago. I have never voted for a Democrat, or contributed to any. Trump has bragged that he has at least contributed to some. He may be the biggest Republican in name only.

Hill added: Any discussion of conservative principle must begin with respect and loyalty to ones culture, community, country, constitution, and willingness to use compromise and party to keep the system afloat. It is my judgment that [Trump] falls far short of all these requisite standards.

Well wrap this up with one final redefinition for RINO, from Diane Rhody-Scott of Giles County. Hers may be an apt description for feelings Hill described: Retching Inside, Nonplussed Out.

Thank you, readers, for the fun and yuks. If you care to vote for any of these RINO explanations, drop another email to dan.casey@roanoke.com with the one you liked best.

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Many different definitions for Republican In Name Only - Roanoke Times