merriam-webster
Definition of LITMUS TEST -- noun
: a test in which a single factor (as an attitude, event, or fact) is decisive
Examples of LITMUS TEST
1. The party is using attitudes about gun control as a litmus test for political candidates.
First Known Use of LITMUS TEST: 1952
The New Litmus Test -- the price of entry into the Conservative Club House?
Well just ask Newt Gingrich -- he's still scrounging around for 'spare change' to get back in. Begging the club bouncers, "please, please, please ... open up the door again ... I'll be good" -- that's really beneath you, isn't it Newt?
But such is the New Reality, that the Koch-funded Tea Party Train has brought ...
Jump aboard, republican presidential-hopefuls, the crazy train is leaving the station ...
Shhhh! it's a secret ... McConnell has the keys to the Club House fire escapee exit ...
Has the Ryan Plan Become the Third Rail of the GOP?
By Elspeth Reeve, TheAtlanticWire -- May 19, 2011
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is not pushing Republican senators to vote for the budget plan, created by Rep. Paul Ryan and passed by the House, that dramatically changes Medicare. McConnell says he's voting for it, but the rank-and-file are free to vote their conscience, The Hill's Alexander Bolton reports.
That means more Republicans might vote against the controversial bill. That also leaves the Ryan budget "twisting in the wind," Bolton says.
In the House, party leadership worked to keep the number of defectors down to four. McConnell's decision demonstrates how uneasy many Republicans are with the politics of tinkering with Medicare even as Newt Gingrich's battering, for criticizing the Ryan plan, shows the proposal is, in the words of pundits and Democrats, the "new conservative litmus test."
This keen observation, this convenient rhetorical frame, seems to have originated here, a few days ago ...
firstread.msnbc -- May 17, 2011
The new conservative litmus test: Here’s a final point about Newt yesterday: It’s more evidence that if you criticize Ryan’s budget plan -- and, more importantly, its Medicare overhaul -- then you’re not considered a mainstream conservative Republican. Ryan’s budget plan has become the ultimate conservative litmus test.
Ed Schultz calls the pending Senate Vote on the Ryan 'fix Medicare' Plan: "Walking the Plank for Republicans".
They're damned if they do, they're damned if they don't. Especially considering that 80% of Americans -- say "Hands Off! Leave Medicare Alone."
Yet the Pirate Club House Honchos are saying: Are you with Ryan -- Or against him, Mateys?
Aaargh!
If you don't like the Pirate Plank Walking metaphor, here's another, that's a bit less, pointed ...
Tea Party Quicksand in the GOP Presidential Landscape
by Brian Ross, HuffingtonPost Managing Editor, Truth-2-Power.com: 05/19/11
When Newt Gingrich is too moderate for the Republican Party, the Tea Party has turned the political landscape into quicksand for GOP presidential aspirants.
If you're at-all a middle of the road, Moderate Republican these days, you really must be getting that 'sinking feeling' right about now. And there's no one, except maybe Mitch McConnell, throwing you a rope.
Hey, being stuck in the Koch Quicksand, is as good a reason as any for being a 'No Show' on the Ryan Budget Vote.
"The Dog ate all your Opinions", sometimes works too. Just ask Newt Gingrich how that's working out for him.
That or get used to the Dog House, conservative floormats. The Medicare Litmus Test is headed your way soon. Cut Care for Seniors, or raise Taxes on Millionaires -- the Choice used to be yours ... back in ye olden days.