‘Republican in name only,” “country-club Republican,” “establishment Republican”: These are the terms grassroots conservatives use to attack their moderate Republican opponents, whom they consider “squishes” and elitists — people who are more interested in being loved by Democrats than in fighting for conservative principles.
The original term for such a person was “Rockefeller Republican.” Conservatives started using the phrase in the 1960s, to categorize the liberal Republicans from whom they hoped to wrest control over the GOP — but it was also used by northeastern moderates to classify themselves, because they were proud to be associated with the energetic liberal Republicanism of New York governor Nelson Rockefeller.
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