"... pollsters routinely find that when they describe the actual, on-the-record policy views of Republicans to focus groups, the participants refuse to believe them. They just seem too absurdly extreme."

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And 2014's Flip-Flopper of the Year Award Goes to...
By Ben Wikler, October 8, 2014

Many pols flip-flop. But each year, one politician rises above the din to become a new icon of embarrassing flip-floppery.

This year, America's flip-flopper-in-chief is Colorado Senate hopeful Cory Gardner -- Republican candidate in what FiveThirtyEight lists as the closest Senate race in America.

Flip-flopping, in politics, is not simply changing one's mind. It's trying to have it both ways. Some politicos flip-flop because they have no real beliefs other than their own self-advancement; others flip-flop because their real views are so extreme that, to be politically viable, they need to be covered up.

Which kind is Gardner? We'll investigate that later. But first, let's consider his astonishing flip-flops themselves. Among his many remarkable achievements in the competitive field of flip-floppification, three stand out: his acrobatic, even balletic policy reversals and evasions on climate change, immigration reform, and birth control.

The Climate Change Quick-Change Artist

[major snippage]

The problem for Gardner is that, during the four years after that statement, Coloradans endured a massive barrage of droughts, fires, and floods -- not just on the news but in their own backyards. Gardner doesn't want to alienate reasonable people by pretending that nothing's happening. But he also doesn't want to alienate his base of climate-denying, carbon-spewing super-donors. The result: industrial-strength flip-flopping.

Immigration Permutations

[snipped]

Even as Gardner spent years in the House racking up a consistently (until just now) anti-immigrant voting record, he's mouthed platitudes about reform and a "humane" approach. That's what made Gardner the poster boy for a 2013 article titled "On immigration, GOP swing votes want it both ways." Apparently, he also wants Colorado's Latinos to develop a case of collective amnesia.

Birth Control-Alt-Delete

For all of his malarkey on climate change and immigration, no issue better showcases Gardner's capacity for Olympic-caliber flip-flopping than the question of birth control.

[major snippage]

So that's three positions (in four phases) on climate science, total self-contradiction on immigration, and a tornado-like series of 360-degree turns on birth control.

Sometimes, of course, something that looks like a flip-flop isn't actually a flip-flop -- see, for example, the painful true story of John Kerry's 2004 "I voted for it before I voted against it" line. But Gardner's record makes clear that he's not suffering from poorly chosen words. He knows exactly what he's doing.

So why does he do it? Is he an opportunist with no core beliefs, or an extremist trying to paper over his real agenda?

Either is possible. When Gardner represented a deep-red House seat, he was a conservative extremist. Now that he's running for Senate in a bluish-purple state, he wants to be seen as a moderate. So maybe, in his heart, he doesn't care about left or right -- he just wants to move up, grabbing the next rung on the ladder to power.

But his life tells a different story. Just 40 years old, Gardner has been a Republican operative since his days as a college intern in the state capitol. Throughout his career, his political persona has been consistent: far-far-right positions paired with rhetoric and a demeanor that makes him seem moderate. In the hyper-conservative House, he was ranked the 10th most right-wing, far to the right of, say, Michele Bachmann. But thanks to strategic flip-flopping, he's been able to bridge the corporate and hyper-ideological wings of the Republican Party, simultaneously raking in campaign contributions and steeping in a tea party teapot.

In other words, his chosen path to power has never been a centrist one, this year's election-year left feint notwithstanding. Unless it's all been an act -- and that's a long act to sustain -- he's a hardcore conservative through and through.

Of course, whatever's in his soul, we know what's in the cards if Gardner reaches the Senate: a vote to put Mitch McConnell in charge. And Mitch McConnell's agenda is about as moderate as Charles Koch's. (Actually, it's exactly as moderate as Charles Koch's.)

Ultimately, Gardner's hyperkinetic flip-flopping is about more than Gardner himself. It's a symptom of an underlying condition: the kind of deception now necessary for Republicans to get elected in non-ultra-red states.

One of the discomforting phenomena of this campaign season is that pollsters routinely find that when they describe the actual, on-the-record policy views of Republicans to focus groups, the participants refuse to believe them. They just seem too absurdly extreme. Banning birth control pills, for example, is a position that most voters think disappeared a generation ago. In a sense, the GOP's hopes for a Senate takeover this year are premised on the idea that their candidates' positions are literally unbelievable -- as in, they won't be believed, so the huge majority of voters who oppose those positions won't realize the urgency of turning out to vote. But as the electorate starts paying attention, the danger grows that their agenda will actually be understood. That makes for tough going.

And when the going gets tough, the flip-floppers get flip-flopping.
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