Hillary Clinton harshly criticized Barack Obama’s statement that, as president, he would meet with the leaders of unfriendly countries like Iran, calling his comments “irresponsible” and “naive”. However, Clinton said she would meet with the Syrians and the Iranians only a few months earlier.
“I thought that was irresponsible and frankly naive,” Clinton said. Source: ABC News, July 24, 2007.

OLBERMANN: Would you reach out immediately to the Syrians and the Iranians, even with tensions between this country and Iran?
CLINTON: Absolutely. I don‘t see it as a sign of weakness, I see it as a sign of strength. You know, our president will not talk to people he considers bad. Well, there are a lot of bad actors in the world, and you don‘t make peace with your friends. You‘ve got to deal you‘re your enemies, your opponents, people whose interests diverge from yours.

Source: Hillary Clinton on Countdown with Keith Olbermann, January 24, 2007.

The Lie: “I was the greatest critic of the initial four years, three and a half years. I came back from my first trip to Iraq and said, This is going to fail.”. Source: CNN Interview, August 17, 2007.

The Flip: “Well, I think the initial phases of it were so spectacularly successful that it
took us all by surprise.” Source: John McCain on CBS Face the Nation, October 31, 2004.[PDF]

GOP Presidential hopeful Rudy Guiliani resigned from the bipartisan Congress-commissioned Iraq Study Group panel citing reasons that were not exactly true…

The Lie: The former New York City mayor said the main reason he quit was that it “didn’t seem that I would really be able to keep the thing focused on a bipartisan, nonpolitical resolution.” Source: International Herald-Tribune, June 20, 2007

The Flip: Guiliani quit the panel after he failed to attend a single meeting- because he was busy giving “20 speeches in a single month that brought in $1.7 million.”. Guiliani was asked to leave after his truancy forced “the panel’s top Republican to give him a stark choice: either attend the meetings or quit” Source: Newsday, June 19, 2007.

In 2004, Mitt Romney expressed support for stem cell research on new lines, including federal funding for stem cell research derived from human embryos. At the 2007 debate, he reversed his position, and spoke out against federal funding for stem cell research.

The Lie: “Governor Romney wants to encourage and support scientific research and the discovery of new cures. For that reason, he supports stem cell research on new and existing lines, in both private and federally funded settings.” Romney Spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom, August 2004.

The Flip: “It’s fine for that to be allowed, to be legal. I won’t use our government funds for that.” Source: California Republican Debate , May 3, 2007

The Lie: Fred Thompson claims he has always been pro-life. “Pro-life. I think Roe v. Wade was bad law and bad medical science” Source: The Fred Factor p.143-144, June 3, 2007.

The Flip: In 1991, Fred Thompson was a lobbyist for an abortion rights group. Source: LA Times.

Even in 2003, top generals predicted that we would need to keep a large combat force in Iraq for years after toppling Saddam Hussein’s government. Dick Cheney, Vice President and former Secretary of Defense, did not agree with the generals…but the generals were right.

The Lie:

MR. RUSSERT: The army’s top general said that we would have to have several hundred thousand troops there for several years in order to maintain stability.
VICE PRES. CHENEY: I disagree. We need, obviously, a large force and we’ve deployed a large force. To prevail, from a military standpoint, to achieve our objectives, we will need a significant presence there until such time as we can turn things over to the Iraqis themselves. But to suggest that we need several hundred thousand troops there after military operations cease, after the conflict ends, I don’t think is accurate. I think that’s an overstatement.

Source: Dick Cheney on “Meet the Press”, March 16, 2003.

The Flip: Years after major combat operations in Iraq were proclaimed to be over, hundreds of thousands of troops remain in Iraq. Furthermore, the Bush administration has recently authorized a surge of 20,000 more troops- because current troop levels were insufficient.

The Lie:

QUESTION: “Senator, if the House and Senate pass the ‘Fair Tax’ bill do you feel right now that you would sign it?”
THOMPSON: “Yeah, absolutely.”

Source: FairTax.org Video, July 25, 2007.

The Flip: The Thompson campaign denied support of the Fair Tax proposal. Source: ABC News.

In 2005, McCain warned against the use of force against Iran, saying a strike against Iran, and another war in the Middle East could not succeed. By 2007, he was gleefully suggesting we bomb Iran.

The Lie:

“I do not think [a strike against Iran] would be successful. There is no guarantee we would get all these facilities. If you have a strike and leave them with nuclear capability, you have got a hell of a challenge on your hands…Everybody knows we are not going to have two wars [at once]”

Source: Financial Times, January 28, 2005.

The Flip: “Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran,” Source: Georgetown Times, April 19, 2007.

We don’t post Flipflops on weekends, but we will be back with a great one on Tuesday- so stay tuned!

Despite a throughly pro-life voting record, Kucinich reversed his position on abortion shortly before announcing his 2004 candidacy for President.

The Lie:

In 1996 when you won your congressional seat, you declared, “I believe that life begins at conception.” Have you changed your mind on that?No, no. Not at all. That’s what I think. But we live in a pluralistic society and there are many different spiritual beliefs in this Congress.

Source: Salon Interview, March 1, 2003.

The Flip: “Abortions should always be legal”. Source: Vote-Smart Presidential National Political Awareness Test Jan 8, 2004