), 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.
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".
It was used by critics as a catch-phrase attack on John Kerry, claiming he was "flip-flopping" his stance on several issues, including the ongoing war in Iraq.
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.
The term has been used repeatedly by libertarian leaning Reason magazine to describe politician Kamala Harris 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 past...",[6][7] Reason has also criticized Joe Biden as an inconsistent and politically untrustworthy political figure labeled a "flip flopper".
[8] 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.
"Long suspect on the Republican right, George [H. W.] Bush faced a crippling 1992 primary challenge after abandoning his 'no new taxes' campaign pledge in the White House.
"It spoke to a pattern of calculation and indecisiveness that make him look like a weak commander in chief compared to [George W.] Bush", said Jonathan Prince, a strategist for 2008 presidential candidate John Edwards, Kerry's running mate in 2004.
"[10] 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?