Believe it or not, I am going to come to the defense of U.S. Rep. Van Taylor, a Plano Republican who is running for a third term as my congressman from the Third Congressional District of North Texas.

You see, a far-right wing outfit based in Dublin, Ohio, has targeted Taylor, calling him a RINO, the acronym that stands for Republican In Name Only. This nut job outfit, which calls itself RINOreckoning,org, says Taylor voted with Democrats too many times in his second term.

So, this group of wackos wants Taylor tossed out. RINOreckoning doesn’t recommend a successor; it just calls Taylor a bunch of names and suggests that his bipartisan outreach betrays “real Republicanism.” What utter bullsh**!

I’ll be straight with you: I am not a big Van Taylor fan. I likely will vote for the Democratic challenger this fall. However, one of the few bright spots in Taylor’s still-brief congressional career has been his willingness to reach for Democrats in Congress to work on bipartisan solutions. It has earned him a bit of a positive reputation among many of his colleagues.

There’s one half-truth I want to mention specifically in this anti-RINO screed I saw online. It chastises Taylor for voting in favor of an independent commission proposed by Democratic U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to look into the 1/6 insurrection. The measure never got out of the Senate; it died a quiet death in the other chamber.

What these right-wing fruitcakes don’t dare mention is that Taylor voted against creation of the select committee that Pelosi formed as an alternative to the independent commission. The RINO hunters don’t say a word about that, which of course is understandable as it argues the liars’ half-baked narrative.

Oh, and then there’s this one: It says that Taylor sided with “Liberal Liz Cheney.” Rep. Cheney a liberal? Are they fu**ing serious?

Take a look at the website:

Rino Reckoning

This outfit clearly is aligned with the QAnon wing of the GOP. Its message is as dangerous as, say, the kind of crap that flows from Donald Trump’s pie hole about the “rigged 2020 election” and the “widespread voter fraud” that elected Joe Biden. Spoiler alert: There was no widespread voter fraud, and the 2020 election was the most secure in U.S. political history.

The Dallas Morning News noted this about Taylor in its summary of editorial board recommendations for the upcoming midterm election: Taylor, 49, a businessman and Marine veteran in his second term in Congress, has demonstrated deeply conservative values dating back to his years as a member of the Texas House and Senate. He has a reputation as one of Congress’ most engaged and responsive members to his constituents.

There really is much to admire about Rep. Taylor. He served as a Marine officer in Afghanistan, fighting to protect the free-speech rights of fruitcakes who populate RINOreckoning.org. I likely won’t cast my vote for Congressman Taylor. However, he deserves better than to be mischaracterized in this manner by a dangerous group of right-wing outliers.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com