Sincerity and learning from experience are not flip-flopping.

Question: Is flip-flopper a bad word?

Mike Gravel: What the word “flip flopper” denotes is the fact that people wanna be elected so bad . . . they want this power so bad that they’ll say anything to get it. And all you gotta do is watch some of the politicians, and my god it is flip, flip. They’re just jumping right across the board. And they’re all doing it. They’re all doing it. On the democratic side, I think that probably you’ll see a little more consistency with Dennis Kucinich; but he’s got other problems. He’s liberal . . . politics as usual on the liberal side, but he’s the best of the bunch. And so on the other side . . . But you see them. They change. Now it’s very important to realize that . . . And I’ll say this about Edwards. You know Edwards voted for the war, and I find him extremely sincere about the fact of the mistake he made. And so I really take his sincerity straight away. That flip flopping? No not for me. Edwards was not flip flopping. He was informed by experience, and we all are. And that’s the advantage I bring to the presidency. I’m informed by experience, and I’ve got a lot more experience than all the others put together.

Recorded on: 10/23/07