“RINO” (Republican In Name Only) spawned many similar political acronyms. When John Boehner became Speaker of the House of Representatives in 2011, some said that he was ‘Speaker In Name Only” and did not control the tea party Republicans.
 
“SINO” (for “Speaker In Name Only”) was cited in Salon on Juy 29, 2011. However, “Sino” (meaning Chinese) was already an established word. “SPINO (for “Speaker in Name Only”) has been in used since at least December 2012.
 
     
Salon
FRIDAY, JUL 29, 2011 12:19 AM EDT
The end of John Boehner?
Now we know who really runs the House: The default-happy Tea Party
BY STEVE KORNACKI
What we’ve suspected all along can now be asserted with confidence: John Boehner is a SINO – Speaker-in-name-only. And after what went down — or, more accurately, what didn’t go down — in the House on Thursday night, it’s fair to wonder how much longer he’ll even be that.
 
Delaware Liberal
“Plan B” Fails – John Boehner is a national joke
Filed in National by jason330 on December 20, 2012
Boehner is now a SPINO, “Speaker in name only.” He didn’t have the votes to pass “Plan B” and he doesn’t have enough votes to close a deal with the President prior to going down the fiscal slope. He doesn’t even have standing to negotiate.
 
Twitter
txvoodoo
‏@txvoodoo
RT @sherifffruitfly: :D // RT: @skrspooky: Ya know RINO? DINO? Now we have SPINO - Speaker in name only #Boehner
7:50 PM - 1 Jan 13
 
New York (NY) Times
OP-ED COLUMNIST
U.S. Fringe Festival
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Published: October 8, 2013
(...)
What exactly are supposedly mainstream conservatives — starting with House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell — thinking? If the “Ted Cruz Wing” of the G.O.P. prevails and forces the president to curtail Obamacare in any way in return for funding the government, mainstream conservatives will be staring at a terrible future. In the near term, they’ll be taking orders from Senator Ted Cruz, who would be crowned kingmaker of the G.O.P. if he got Obama to give in one iota on Obamacare. Cruz and his Tea Party allies would be calling the shots, and Boehner would become that very rare bird — a SPINO (a Speaker in Name Only).
   
CNN—Erin Burnett OutFront
October 9th, 2013 03:46 PM ET
NEW WORD ORDER: Is John Boehner a SPINO?
Language is power and when someone invents or uses a new word gaining power, we recognize it.
 
In today’s column about the shutdown showdown, The New York Times’ Thomas L. Friedman wrote this:
 
“Cruz and his Tea Party allies would be calling the shots, and Boehner would become that very rare bird — a SPINO (a Speaker in Name Only).”
 
The term has been used a few times before and it will be interesting to see if it catches on because another short-hand for the phrase has been tried.
   
National Journal
POLITICAL CONNECTIONS
Will the Kamikaze Caucus Doom the GOP?
When Congress devolves into perpetual conflict, each party’s more militant voices gain influence at the expense of its deal-makers.
By Ronald Brownstein October 10, 2013  
When congressional insiders say John Boehner could lose his speakership if he moves to end the confrontations over the federal budget and debt ceiling, it provokes an obvious question: How could he tell?
 
Embattled throughout his nearly three-year tenure, Boehner has never seemed more a SINO—that’s Speaker In Name Only—than during this crisis