WhatFinger


Slavery, Aborton, The Defense of Marriage Act - Same Sex Marriage, Iraq, No Child Left Behind

Flip Flopping for Dummies



Let’s start by defining two terms. First, what is a flip flop? Second, who does it? The definition of a flip flop is, “Something that is a bad thing when a politician you don’t like does it, and a good thing when a politician you do like does it.”
The answer to the second question is, everybody in the whole freaking world, and most especially, every politician. Here is a story about a massive flip flop. Once upon a time, a presidential candidate ran very hard on a particular issue. He made powerful promises, without which, he might not have been elected. Then to the amazement of people who campaigned against him, and to the utter disconcertion of the people who supported him, he flip flopped, which triggered massive death and destruction, and stood the potential of making him one of the most reviled figures in history. Potentially, it could mean the end of his country.

Support Canada Free Press


You see, in spite of his pledge not to do so, Abraham Lincoln broke his promise, and plunged the United States into the bloodiest war in its history in order to emancipate the children of Africa who were living in slavery. By his second inaugural, he made the promise “God willing, 'every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid with another drawn by the sword.' " Okay, I’m over simplifying. Sue me. Of course Abe was never in favor of slavery. He always wanted to end it. But he campaigned on ending it by an incremental process of “compensated emancipation.” He absolutely wasn’t going to take the nation to war over freeing enslaved human beings, and he might not have won if he said otherwise. Now, it’s probably not very politically correct to refer to the Emancipation as a flip flop, since it is regarded by anyone with a brain as the correct decision, and instead of being reviled, Lincoln is heralded as one of our greatest Presidents. He is the gold standard of what a president should be. But it is clear that campaigned for office promising one thing, and then did something drastically different. Historians have puzzled over what Lincoln read, heard, or thought about that made him change his mind, but we are all glad he did.

Abortion

I recently had a contentious Facebook conversation about abortion rights, and two of the people in the thread referred to Mitt Romney’s flip flops on the question of abortion. To listen to Debbie Wasserman-Schultz talk, Romney has taken every possible position on abortion, and even changes his mind several times a day. By the way, I’d like to ask a question I’ve asked in a previous column, but no one answered me. What I want to know is, if Debbie Wasserman-Schultz ever told the truth, or even ever said something that made sense, would the world come to an end? But I digress. Has Romney flip flopped on the issue of abortion? Well, philosophically, no. Not even a little bit. In line with the doctrine of his religion, he believes, and has always believed and stated that abortion is wrong, that it is the taking of a life, and shouldn’t be done except in cases of rape, incest, or where the pregnancy puts the mother’s life in danger. At the beginning of his political career, and for most of his political career, he has stated that he would make no effort to strengthen or weaken any laws regarding abortion. He didn’t feel that he could impose his morality on other people. I’m sure a big component to that stance was the fact that he was Governor of Massachusetts, and tightening abortion laws in that state would obviously be a losing battle, but it would have taken so much time that he wouldn’t have been able to get anything done. Like the old saying goes, pick your battles. Nothing would have been gained by fighting that one, and a lot could have been lost. What is Romney’s position on abortion now? Philosophically, exactly the same. He still believes that it’s wrong, except in cases where the pregnancy was caused by rape or incest, or if the life of the mother was endangered by the pregnancy. Zero change in mindset. Where he did make a change is that he has said that he would sign legislation to tighten abortion laws to conform to his view of it if such a bill crossed his desk. He isn’t campaigning on the issue as of this writing, and he has made no statement that says he would push for such legislation, but he would sign it if it was presented to him. Is that really such a big flip flop? To someone militantly supporting abortion rights, of course it is a big flip flop. To someone who is of the pro-life mindset, it is a case of Mitt getting the courage of his convictions.

The Defense of Marriage Act - Same Sex Marriage

Everybody flip flops. Not just politicians. Everyone. I used to be a big supporter of capital punishment for heinous crimes. But so many people have been freed by DNA evidence recently that I am no longer confident that we can know to moral certainty if the accused is guilty? So I flip flopped. Does that mean I’m wishy-washy, or simply that I have more information and experience to base a decision on? Bill Clinton signed “The Defense of Marriage Act” into law in 1996, which prohibited gay marriage. Now he supports gay marriage. Is that a flip flop? (Side note. Did Clinton hate gay people in 1996? Recent events in the news have led me to believe that anyone who believes in traditional marriage must hate gay people.) But, again, I digress. In other 1996 news, a young man named Barack Obama was running for state senate in a liberal district. On a questionnaire, he made the statement “I favor legalizing same-sex marriages, and would fight efforts to prohibit such marriages.” His stance went over very well for the electorate he was appealing to. 
Two years later, as he was considering running for higher office, he flip flopped. He was okay with civil unions, but not marriage between people of the same gender. Now, he is 100 percent behind it. Again. If you are for gay marriage rights, then Obama simply evolved in his thinking. If you favor traditional marriage, then Obama flip flopped. (In that small period of time while Obama was against gay marriage, but before he was for it again, did he hate gay people?) Another example. Once it became obvious to the world that Saddam Hussein wasn’t the threat he was previously perceived to be, Ted Kennedy, frothing at the mouth, said that George W Bush told “Lie after lie after lie” about WMD in Iraq. But Kennedy said, on September 27, 2002, “We have known for many years that Saddam Hussein is seeking and developing weapons of mass destruction." Was that a flip flop? Big time. One hundred percent about face.

Iraq and WMD

Here are a few other quotes on the same topic. Positions taken during a climate where it was politically advantageous to take a hard line on Saddam Hussein. 
 "If Saddam rejects peace and we have to use force, our purpose is clear. We want to seriously diminish the threat posed by Iraq's weapons of mass destruction program."
--President Bill Clinton, Feb. 17, 1998 "Saddam Hussein has been engaged in the development of weapons of mass destruction technology which is a threat to countries in the region and he has made a mockery of the weapons inspection process."
-Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D, CA), Dec. 16, 1998 "Iraq's search for weapons of mass destruction has proven impossible to deter and we should assume that it will continue for as long as Saddam is in power."
-- Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002 Here is my favorite. "Without question, we need to disarm Saddam Hussein. He is a brutal, murderous dictator, leading an oppressive regime ... He presents a particularly grievous threat because he is so consistently prone to miscalculation ... And now he is miscalculating America's response to his continued deceit and his consistent grasp for weapons of mass destruction ... So the threat of Saddam Hussein with weapons of mass destruction is real..."
-- Sen. John F*&^%$%ing Kerry (D, MA), Jan. 23. 2003 This from the man who was for it before he was against it. Or was that, he was against it before he was for? It’s so confusing. But every single one of those people said that George W Bush lied about Saddam’s WMD, and he lied by saying the exact same thing they themselves had said in the months and years prior. So it was the truth when Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Ted Kennedy, and John Kerry said it, but a lie when Bush said the same thing. Go figure. Franklin Roosevelt pledged in 1940 that if he were re-elected, the United States would not become entangled in foreign wars. Not that he deliberately lied. Something happened that changed his opinion. Unlike Lincoln, we can easily understand why FDR did an about face on his promise. Another huge one from Obama. In debating with Hillary Clinton on health care, he took a strong stand against a mandate to buy coverage. Now, he is for it. Since I’m opposed to the mandate, it’s a flip flop. To people in favor of it, it’s an evolution in the Presidents thinking. More flip flops. Obama replied “yes” in September 2007 when asked if he would agree to public financing of the presidential election if his GOP opponent did the same. Then he flip flopped. In January 2004, Obama said  that it was time "to end the embargo with Cuba," because it had "utterly failed in the effort to overthrow Castro." Speaking to a Cuban American audience in Miami, in August 2007, he said he would not "take off the embargo" as president because it was "an important inducement for change."

No Child Left Behind


Hillary Clinton voted in favor of the 2002 education bill that focused on raising student achievement levels, hailing the measure (test) as "a major step forward." After the primaries were over, she denounced the concept at meetings with teachers, describing it as a "test, test, test" approach. George H.W. Bush on “read my lips. No new taxes.” Nuff said. Obama said he could no more repudiate his racist anti Semite preacher than he could his own grandmother. A few days later, Jeremiah Wright had tire tread marks on his back after Obama threw him under the bus. Flip flopping is normal, and necessary. Who wants a leader that is so inflexible that he can’t adjust his positions as he learns and grows. I have a message for anyone who wants to sling mud in this campaign by calling their opponent a flip flopper. According to Confucius: “Man who live in tin house shouldn’t throw can openers” (or something like that). That’s the way I see it.


View Comments

Neill Arnhart -- Bio and Archives

Neill Arnhart lives in Southern Indiana with his wife, step daughter, two dachshunds named Ricky and Lucy, an Australian Cattle dog named Indiana (Indy for short) an inside cat named Elphaba, and about a dozen barn cats.  Aside from living in the US, he has lived on the island of Trinidad, and in Venezuela, back when it was nice place.

When not rousing the rabble with sarcastic essay’s, he hides behind the secret identity of a mild mannered insurance agent, specializing in Medicare, and other matters concerning senior citizens.


Sponsored