Quote:
Originally Posted by scaeagles
I think it's a character issue more than anything else. I don't think it's an issue of office.
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Actually, I think that being a senator (or member of the House) does make one much more vulnerable to flip-flopping charges.
Legislators vote on a huge number of bills - I don't know how many exactly, but I would certainly think that there are thousands or tens of thousands in a single senatorial term. And many bills will have multiple versions, of which a senator might choose to support one version and vote against other stronger or weaker versions, thus opening himself up to charges of voting against something he is putatively in favor of. Additionally, many bills become huge monstrosities with dozens of clauses possibly unrelated to the original subject of the bill, so that in order to vote for a bill that you favor, you has to accept provisions that you would not support on their own. It is a common legislative maneuver to try to attach amendments to a bill that would make it politically embarrassing for your opponents to vote it up or down.
When one examines charges of flip-flopping made in recent elections, these are frequently where they come from.