Flip-flop (politics)
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A "flip-flop" (used mostly in the United States), U-turn (used in the
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,
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, etc.), or backflip (used in Australia and New Zealand) is a derogatory term for a sudden real or apparent change of policy or opinion by a public official, sometimes while trying to claim that the two positions are consistent with each other. It carries connotations of pandering and
hypocrisy Hypocrisy is the practice of feigning to be what one is not or to believe what one does not. The word "hypocrisy" entered the English language ''c.'' 1200 with the meaning "the sin of pretending to virtue or goodness". Today, "hypocrisy" ofte ...
. Often, flip-flops occur during the period prior to or following an election in order to maximize the candidate's popularity.


History

In his "On Language" column in ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'', William Safire wrote in 1988 that "flip-flop" has a long history as a synonym for "somersault". (He cited George Lorimer in 1902: "when a fellow's turning flip-flops up among the clouds, he's naturally going to have the farmers gaping at him".) In the late 19th century, a US politician was called "the Florida flopper" by an opponent, Safire noted. The "fl" sound appearing twice is an indication of ridicule, he wrote. Citing grammarian Randolph Quirk, Safire pointed out that the doubling of the sound is also a feature in other two-word phrases used to disparage the actions or words of others, including " mumbo jumbo", "wishy-washy", and "higgledy-piggledy".Safire, William
"Phantom of the Phrases "
"On Language" column, ''
The New York Times Magazine ''The New York Times Magazine'' is an American Sunday magazine included with the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times''. It features articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted many notable contributors. The magazi ...
'', March 13, 1988 (comment from Wicker is as quoted by Safire), retrieved June 23, 2008
In the archives of ''The New York Times'', which go back to 1851, the earliest unequivocal mention of "flip-flop" as a change in someone's opinion is in an October 23, 1890 report of a campaign speech in New York City. John W. Goff, candidate for district attorney, said of one of his opponents: "I would like to hear Mr. Nicoll explain his great flip-flop, for three years ago, you know, as the Republican candidate for District Attorney, he bitterly denounced
Tammany Tamanend ("the Affable"; ), historically also known as Taminent, Tammany, Saint Tammany or King Tammany, was the Chief of Chiefs and Chief of the Turtle Clan of the Lenape, Lenni-Lenape nation in the Delaware Valley signing the founding peace t ...
as a party run by bosses and in the interest of bossism. ... Nicoll, who three years ago was denouncing Tammany, is its candidate to-day." The term was also used in 1967, when a ''New York Times'' editorial and ''Times'' columnist Tom Wicker used it in commenting on different events. It was also in the 1976 election, when President
Gerald Ford Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. (born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913December 26, 2006) was the 38th president of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, Ford assumed the p ...
used the phrase against his opponent
Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (October 1, 1924December 29, 2024) was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party ...
. In the
1988 U.S. presidential election United States presidential election, Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 8, 1988. The Republican Party (United States), Republican Party's ticket of incumbent Vice President George H. W. Bush and Indiana Senator Da ...
,
Michael Dukakis Michael Stanley Dukakis ( ; born November 3, 1933) is an American politician and lawyer who served as governor of Massachusetts from 1975 to 1979 and from 1983 to 1991. He is the longest-serving governor in Massachusetts history and only the s ...
used the term against opponent Richard Gephardt, saying, "There's a flip-flopper over here" about Gephardt. The term also was used extensively in the
2004 U.S. presidential election Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 2, 2004. Incumbent Republican President George W. Bush and his running mate, incumbent Vice President Dick Cheney, were re-elected to a second term. They narrowly defeated ...
campaign. It was used by critics as a catch-phrase attack on
John Kerry John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician, and diplomat who served as the 68th United States secretary of state from 2013 to 2017 in the Presidency of Barack Obama#Administration, administration of Barac ...
, claiming he was "flip-flopping" his stance on several issues, including the ongoing war in Iraq. Famously, on March 16, 2004, during an appearance at
Marshall University Marshall University is a public university, public research university in Huntington, West Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1837 and is named after John Marshall, the fourth Chief Justice of the United States, chief justice of the Uni ...
Kerry tried to explain his vote for an $87 billion supplemental appropriation for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan by telling the crowd, "I actually did vote for the $87 billion, before I voted against it." After the remark became controversial, he explained that he had supported an earlier Democratic measure that would have paid for the $87 billion in war funding by reducing Bush's tax cuts.
FactCheck FactCheck.org is a nonprofit website that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics by providing original research on misinformation and hoaxes. It is a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the Annenberg ...
stated that "Kerry has never wavered from his support for giving Bush authority to use force in Iraq, nor has he changed his position that he, as President, would not have gone to war without greater international support." The term "U-turn" in the United Kingdom was famously applied to
Edward Heath Sir Edward Richard George Heath (9 July 1916 – 17 July 2005) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1974 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1965 ...
, the
prime minister of the United Kingdom The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister Advice (constitutional law), advises the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, sovereign on the exercise of much of the Royal prerogative ...
from 1970 to 1974. Prior to the 1970 general election, the Conservative Party compiled a
manifesto A manifesto is a written declaration of the intentions, motives, or views of the issuer, be it an individual, group, political party, or government. A manifesto can accept a previously published opinion or public consensus, but many prominent ...
that highlighted
free-market In economics, a free market is an economic system in which the prices of goods and services are determined by supply and demand expressed by sellers and buyers. Such markets, as modeled, operate without the intervention of government or any ot ...
economic policies. Heath abandoned such policies when his government nationalised
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(hence the actual "U-turn"). The Conservative government was later attacked for such a move because nationalisation was seen (by the Thatcher era) as antithetical to Conservative beliefs. This later led to one of
Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...
's most famous phrases: "you turn -turnif you want to. The lady's not for turning." The Conservatives would adopt the free market under her. The term has been used repeatedly by
libertarian Libertarianism (from ; or from ) is a political philosophy that holds freedom, personal sovereignty, and liberty as primary values. Many libertarians believe that the concept of freedom is in accord with the Non-Aggression Principle, according ...
leaning ''
Reason Reason is the capacity of consciously applying logic by drawing valid conclusions from new or existing information, with the aim of seeking the truth. It is associated with such characteristically human activities as philosophy, religion, scien ...
'' magazine to describe politician
Kamala Harris Kamala Devi Harris ( ; born October 20, 1964) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 49th vice president of the United States from 2021 to 2025 under President Joe Biden. She is the first female, first African American, and ...
related to her on-and-off-again support of a so called " medicare-for-all" policy within the United States, as well as Harris' "...running away from her
far-left Far-left politics, also known as extreme left politics or left-wing extremism, are politics further to the left on the left–right political spectrum than the standard political left. The term does not have a single, coherent definition; some ...
past...", ''Reason'' has also criticized
Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...
as an inconsistent and politically untrustworthy political figure labeled a "flip flopper". In regard to Biden, ''Reason'' said his "Final Flip-Flop" of ultimately deciding to drop out of running for president in the 2024 race, marked, "...a pattern established by a long career of politically convenient reversals."


Influence on public

The circumstances surrounding the flip-flop and its larger context can be crucial factors in whether or not a politician is hurt or helped more by a change in position. "Long hailed as a conservative champion,
Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...
could shrug off his support of a tax increase in 1982 to curb the budget deficits his 1981 tax cut had exacerbated", according to an analysis of flip-flopping in ''The New York Times''. "Long suspect on the Republican right, George . W.Bush faced a crippling 1992 primary challenge after abandoning his 'no new taxes' campaign pledge in the White House."Harwood, John
"Flip-Flops Are Looking Like a Hot Summer Trend"
"The Caucus" feature, ''The New York Times'', June 23, 2008, retrieved same day
Kerry's perceived equivocation on the Iraq war damaged his 2004 campaign, according to both Democratic and Republican political operatives. "It spoke to a pattern of calculation and indecisiveness that make him look like a weak commander in chief compared to eorge W.Bush", said Jonathan Prince, a strategist for 2008 presidential candidate John Edwards, Kerry's running mate in 2004. In the 2008 primary season, Edwards simply stated that "I was wrong" when he had voted in the U.S. Senate to authorize the Iraq War. "Progressives loved it because it was taking responsibility, not abdicating it", according to Prince. United States commentator Jim Geraghty has written that politicians need to be allowed some leeway in changing their minds as the result of changing conditions. "I actually think that a candidate can even change his position in response to a changing political environment, as long as they're honest about it. 'The votes just aren't there, public support isn't there, so I have to put this proposal on the back burner for a while', is a perfectly legitimate response to a difficult position." The same general point was made in 1988 by ''New York Times'' editorial columnist Tom Wicker, writing shortly after Dukakis' charge against Gephardt. Wicker commented that the accusation was not necessarily fair: "What's wrong with a Presidential candidate changing his position – though his opponents call it 'flip-flopping' – in order to improve his chances of winning? Nothing's wrong with it ... unless the flipper ... denies having done it." Wicker added that the charge can be "a tortured or dishonest interpretation of an opponent's record". " ere's a difference between changing your policy position and breaking a promise," John Dickerson, wrote in ''
Slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...
'' online magazine. "Breaking a promise is a problem of a higher order than changing a policy position. Our mothers told us not to break promises". James Pethokoukis, the "money and politics blogger" for '' U.S. News & World Report'' online, referring to 2008 presidential candidate
John McCain John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American statesman and United States Navy, naval officer who represented the Arizona, state of Arizona in United States Congress, Congress for over 35 years, first as ...
, noted that in changing a position a candidate can "trot out that famous
John Maynard Keynes John Maynard Keynes, 1st Baron Keynes ( ; 5 June 1883 – 21 April 1946), was an English economist and philosopher whose ideas fundamentally changed the theory and practice of macroeconomics and the economic policies of governments. Originall ...
line, 'When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir? The Keynes quote also has been mentioned by other commentators with regard to flip-flops, including James Broder, in a 2007 article in the '' International Herald-Tribune''.Broder, John M
"In past, clues to way Fed chief met mortgage crisis"
, '' The International Herald-Tribune'', August 19, 2007, retrieved June 23, 2008


Non-political use

Outside politics the use of the term is not as pejorative. A scientist or mathematician can often obtain some experimental results or logical proofs which causes one to change a previously held belief. Lewis Eigen, in his essay on the cultural difference between politics and scientists, observes, "To the scientist, failure to flip-flop in the face of contradictory evidence is irrational and dangerous behavior."Lewis D. Eigen, "Flip-Flop: Political Vice–Scientific Virtue". ''Scriptamus'', 2009, http://scriptamus.wordpress.com/2009/10/23/flip-flop-political-vice-scientific-virtue/


See also

* Election promise * Pandering (politics) * Political gaffe * Reverse ferret * Turncoat *
Landslide victory A landslide victory is an election result in which the winning Candidate#Candidates in elections, candidate or political party, party achieves a decisive victory by an overwhelming margin, securing a very large majority of votes or seats far beyo ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Flip-Flop (Politics) Political terminology Rhetoric Opportunism