Reply #77: He should "embrace" the term flip-flop [View All]

[liberalpragmatist]

Seriously. It would have to be done VERY delicately and would be difficult - I'm not sure they'd be able to pull it off. But something like this would work well:

"President Bush and (insert Republican candidate here) live in a fantasty world where they are never wrong. For them, facts don't matter. All that matters is what they believe. But principle must go hand-and-hand with common sense. What does the President do when the facts change? He cups his ears and sings at the top of his voice. What do I do when the facts change? I change my mind. Now maybe in the president's mind that's some unforgivable sin, but I think most people would agree that's common sense. And if having some common sense makes me a flip-flopper, by all means call me a flip-flopper."

If the response is good, the campaign could even employ that in other areas - T-shirts, mugs, slogans - something like:

"We need a flip-flopper" or "Another flip-flopper for Kerry" (say, for Bush supporters who've seen the light)

"Common-sense voter for a common-sense flip-flop"

"I voted against him before I voted for him - another flip-flopper for Kerry."

"Come on America! Flip-flop!"

I am being utterly serious. This is a common rhetorical strategy, where an aggrieved party adopts a derogatory term and makes it their own - think of blacks who call each other the n-word or even the revolutionary-war-era Americans embracing the song "Yankee Doodle."

Doing this would cut the bite out of the Republicans attack and expose what a silly term it really is. And it would show that we have a sense of humor and that we don't take ourselves too seriously.