Examples
The charge was originally used to attack politicians for advocating contradictory policies, often during elections, and frequently while denying the self-contradiction.
- Example 1: "Candidate A, after finding out that weapons of mass destruction won't likely be found in Iraq, flip-flopped to keep Candidate B from using his previous stance against him."
- Example 2: "During his previous campaign, Candidate B promised to regulate carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, as a pollutant but declined to do so after taking office. Candidate A could now cite this as a flip-flop."
The charge has more recently been used to attack politicians and in some cases other public figures for any change of policy for any reason whatsoever, including new information becoming available or a change in circumstances. Such changes in policy sometimes provoke charges that a public figure lacks political conviction.
- Example 3: "C opposed the treaty on greenhouse gas emissions but has since changed his mind." An opponent of C might describe this as a 'flip-flop' while C might claim that both positions were based on his interpretation of evidence at the time.
Read more about this topic: Flip-flop (politics)
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—Bernard Mandeville (1670–1733)
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“In the examples that I here bring in of what I have [read], heard, done or said, I have refrained from daring to alter even the smallest and most indifferent circumstances. My conscience falsifies not an iota; for my knowledge I cannot answer.”
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)