With the departure of George W. Bush, there was a temproarily vacuum regarding fixed available targets of the left's daily hate speech. But demonstrating their political alacrity, and with no elected Republican's in sight, they quickly realized that the only remaining target was conservative talker, Rush Limbaugh.

And what a clever scheme it was.

As moderate Republican's scrambled to distance themselves from the now defeated conservative wing of the party, and with the left's elevation of Limbaugh's every critical word of Obama, it was inevitable that squishy Republican's like Mr. Stevenson would take the bait and prostrate themselves before liberals. Just as Peter thrice denied Christ when the chips were down, Mr. Stevenson quickly ascertained, if you can't beat'em, join'em.

This is of course, no surprise to conservatives. We have long been aware of the soft, flabby underbelly which exists in the Republican Party known to us as RINO's. This collection of mushy, go-along-to-get-along politician's have permeated the party for some time now, growing in numbers as conservative political fortunes have plummeted. The apex of such moderatism was their successful and disastrous nomination of John McCain. Clearly the lesson of the 2008 election was lost on these moderates as it was on McCain himself: No matter how much you try and act like Democrat's, they will ultimately turn on you. Obviously Mr. Stevenson, who openly likens himself to John McCain, is among this crowd.

It is also no surprise that Democrat's publically decry the ousting of Republican's like Mr. Stevenson. And why not? Liberals see RINO's as the already cracked third leg of the Republican stool; help apply a little more pressure and it will collapse upon itself. Any Republican who observes a Democrat coming to their defense should immediately run the other way. Yet another warning sign missed by Mr. Stevenson.

And now back to the clever scheme.

Democrat's have one goal... not to marginalize the Republican Party, but to destroy it. Deomcrat's know how effective playing the race card is. So by labeling Rush Limbaugh as such because of his criticisms of Obama, they conveniently cast the net of racism around all Republican's who fail to denounce the radio talker themselves. Fearful of this label, unsuspecting RINO's like Mr. Stevenson race to the microphone to distance themselves from Mr. Limbaugh.

And the trap is sprung!

But the last, and most brilliant mechanism in this scheme is what follows.

Because conservatives continue to be the overwhelming majority of their party, the natural outcome would be the removal of such moderate voices from leadership roles in favor of those more aligned to that majority. And why should this be considered such an oddity? After all, Democrat's have demonstrated this on numerous occasions with their zero tolerance policy regarding their own moderates, uncerimoniously dispatching them from any positions of power or influence.

And here is where the brilliance factor reveals itself.

So then, when moderates like Mr. Stevenson are politely ejected from leadership, they cry foul, publically attacking their own party, all the while being pushed from behind by the feigned sympathy of Democrat's. The result is the continued hightened chaos and splintering of the GOP while simultaneously painting all conservatives with the broad brush of racsim, already used on the likes of Rush Limbaugh.

Brilliant.

The greatest test for conservatives nationwide is clearly demonstrated on a smaller scale by the goings on in Marathon County. Will Republican's resolve to once again make their party the party of conservative ideals? Or will they be cowed into submission by the RINO's, being pushed along by liberals?

It's clear there is a fierce inner-battle of ideology raging at present. And the road for conservatives will be a rocky one fraught with peril. They can expect a ramping-up of tried and true Democratic playbook favorites like racism in the attempt to silence any voice in opposition to Obama's agenda. The real test will be to stay on-coarse and remain true to the conservative principals that gave us Ronald Reagan and two decades of prosperity. This is no easy task as it will demand the rejection of moderates like Mr. Stevenson from leadership positions in the Republican Party and taking the heat from both those demoted moderates and the Democrat's, which is most certainly to follow.