{"id":140012,"date":"2021-06-08T11:37:54","date_gmt":"2021-06-08T19:37:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=140012"},"modified":"2021-07-17T08:20:32","modified_gmt":"2021-07-17T16:20:32","slug":"representations-of-reliability-the-rhetoric-of-political-flip-flopping","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=140012","title":{"rendered":"Representations of reliability: The rhetoric of political flip-flopping"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I just encountered a communications academic who&#8217;s consistently clear and fun to read &#8212; <A HREF=\"https:\/\/schieffercollege.tcu.edu\/faculty_staff\/josh-bentley\/\">Joshua M. Bentley<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/bfb564af2ee3cdcbafa5c106483ee3ac.pdf\">His latest paper:<\/a> &#8220;This study used a qualitative analysis of political flip-flops (N = 141) to create a typology of rhetorical strategies for politicians who are perceived to have changed positions on political issues. The core purpose of such rhetoric is to achieve a representation of reliability. Politicians who appear to change positions must do so in a way that does not make them seem unreliable to their<br \/>\nkey stakeholders. Strategies for achieving this goal fall into four primary categories: ignore, deny, justify, and repent. Within each category are more specific tactics, such as evading questions, claiming one was misquoted, arguing one is adapting to new circumstances, or explaining that one has acquired new information about an issue. Using Bitzer\u2019s theory of the rhetorical situation, we argue that certain strategies are more appropriate than others in certain situations. We discuss the practical and ethical implications of these strategies.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I just encountered a communications academic who&#8217;s consistently clear and fun to read &#8212; Joshua M. Bentley. His latest paper: &#8220;This study used a qualitative analysis of political flip-flops (N = 141) to create a typology of rhetorical strategies for &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=140012\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42901,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-140012","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-joshua-m-bentley","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t<!-- All in One SEO 4.9.10 - aioseo.com -->\n\t<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I just encountered a communications academic who&#039;s consistently clear and fun to read -- Joshua M. Bentley. His latest paper: &quot;This study used a qualitative analysis of political flip-flops (N = 141) to create a typology of rhetorical strategies for politicians who are perceived to have changed positions on political issues. The core purpose of\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"max-image-preview:large\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Luke Ford\"\/>\n\t<meta name=\"google-site-verification\" content=\"HMjuOfLRyzTPB-5Z5FG4BHkfZ1fbEij34rmbKM3BkZ4\" \/>\n\t<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=140012\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"generator\" content=\"All in One SEO (AIOSEO) 4.9.10\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Luke Ford - No sacred cows.\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Representations of reliability: The rhetoric of political flip-flopping - Luke Ford\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I just encountered a communications academic who&#039;s consistently clear and fun to read -- Joshua M. Bentley. His latest paper: &quot;This study used a qualitative analysis of political flip-flops (N = 141) to create a typology of rhetorical strategies for politicians who are perceived to have changed positions on political issues. The core purpose of\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=140012\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/lukesanta.jpg\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:image:secure_url\" content=\"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/lukesanta.jpg\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-06-08T19:37:54+00:00\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-07-17T16:20:32+00:00\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/lukecford\" \/>\n\t\t<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n\t\t<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@lukeford\" \/>\n\t\t<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Representations of reliability: The rhetoric of political flip-flopping - Luke Ford\" \/>\n\t\t<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"I just encountered a communications academic who&#039;s consistently clear and fun to read -- Joshua M. Bentley. His latest paper: &quot;This study used a qualitative analysis of political flip-flops (N = 141) to create a typology of rhetorical strategies for politicians who are perceived to have changed positions on political issues. The core purpose of\" \/>\n\t\t<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@lukeford\" \/>\n\t\t<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/lukesanta.jpg\" \/>\n\t\t<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"aioseo-schema\">\n\t\t\t{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"BlogPosting\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/?p=140012#blogposting\",\"name\":\"Representations of reliability: The rhetoric of political flip-flopping - Luke Ford\",\"headline\":\"Representations of reliability: The rhetoric of political flip-flopping\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/?author=1#author\"},\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/#person\"},\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/?p=140012#articleImage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/litespeed\\\/avatar\\\/af8ecf5ef66099147247f500ec429b38.jpg?ver=1784204923\",\"width\":96,\"height\":96,\"caption\":\"Luke Ford\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-06-08T11:37:54-08:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-07-17T08:20:32-08:00\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/?p=140012#webpage\"},\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/?p=140012#webpage\"},\"articleSection\":\"Joshua M. Bentley, Politics\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/?p=140012#breadcrumblist\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog#listItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\",\"nextItem\":{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/?cat=24#listItem\",\"name\":\"Politics\"}},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/?cat=24#listItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Politics\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/?cat=24\",\"nextItem\":{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/?p=140012#listItem\",\"name\":\"Representations of reliability: The rhetoric of political flip-flopping\"},\"previousItem\":{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog#listItem\",\"name\":\"Home\"}},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/?p=140012#listItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Representations of reliability: The rhetoric of political flip-flopping\",\"previousItem\":{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/?cat=24#listItem\",\"name\":\"Politics\"}}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/#person\",\"name\":\"Luke Ford\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/?p=140012#personImage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/litespeed\\\/avatar\\\/af8ecf5ef66099147247f500ec429b38.jpg?ver=1784204923\",\"width\":96,\"height\":96,\"caption\":\"Luke Ford\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/?author=1#author\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/?author=1\",\"name\":\"Luke Ford\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/?p=140012#authorImage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/litespeed\\\/avatar\\\/af8ecf5ef66099147247f500ec429b38.jpg?ver=1784204923\",\"width\":96,\"height\":96,\"caption\":\"Luke Ford\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/?p=140012#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/?p=140012\",\"name\":\"Representations of reliability: The rhetoric of political flip-flopping - Luke Ford\",\"description\":\"I just encountered a communications academic who's consistently clear and fun to read -- Joshua M. Bentley. His latest paper: \\\"This study used a qualitative analysis of political flip-flops (N = 141) to create a typology of rhetorical strategies for politicians who are perceived to have changed positions on political issues. The core purpose of\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/?p=140012#breadcrumblist\"},\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/?author=1#author\"},\"creator\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/?author=1#author\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-06-08T11:37:54-08:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-07-17T08:20:32-08:00\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Luke Ford\",\"alternateName\":\"No Sacred Cows\",\"description\":\"No sacred cows.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lukeford.net\\\/blog\\\/#person\"}}]}\n\t\t<\/script>\n\t\t<!-- All in One SEO -->\n\n","aioseo_head_json":{"title":"Representations of reliability: The rhetoric of political flip-flopping - Luke Ford","description":"I just encountered a communications academic who's consistently clear and fun to read -- Joshua M. Bentley. His latest paper: \"This study used a qualitative analysis of political flip-flops (N = 141) to create a typology of rhetorical strategies for politicians who are perceived to have changed positions on political issues. The core purpose of","canonical_url":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=140012","robots":"max-image-preview:large","keywords":"","webmasterTools":{"google-site-verification":"HMjuOfLRyzTPB-5Z5FG4BHkfZ1fbEij34rmbKM3BkZ4","miscellaneous":""},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"BlogPosting","@id":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=140012#blogposting","name":"Representations of reliability: The rhetoric of political flip-flopping - Luke Ford","headline":"Representations of reliability: The rhetoric of political flip-flopping","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?author=1#author"},"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/#person"},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=140012#articleImage","url":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/wp-content\/litespeed\/avatar\/af8ecf5ef66099147247f500ec429b38.jpg?ver=1784204923","width":96,"height":96,"caption":"Luke Ford"},"datePublished":"2021-06-08T11:37:54-08:00","dateModified":"2021-07-17T08:20:32-08:00","inLanguage":"en-US","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=140012#webpage"},"isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=140012#webpage"},"articleSection":"Joshua M. Bentley, Politics"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=140012#breadcrumblist","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog#listItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog","nextItem":{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?cat=24#listItem","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?cat=24#listItem","position":2,"name":"Politics","item":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?cat=24","nextItem":{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=140012#listItem","name":"Representations of reliability: The rhetoric of political flip-flopping"},"previousItem":{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog#listItem","name":"Home"}},{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=140012#listItem","position":3,"name":"Representations of reliability: The rhetoric of political flip-flopping","previousItem":{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?cat=24#listItem","name":"Politics"}}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/#person","name":"Luke Ford","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=140012#personImage","url":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/wp-content\/litespeed\/avatar\/af8ecf5ef66099147247f500ec429b38.jpg?ver=1784204923","width":96,"height":96,"caption":"Luke Ford"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?author=1#author","url":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?author=1","name":"Luke Ford","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=140012#authorImage","url":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/wp-content\/litespeed\/avatar\/af8ecf5ef66099147247f500ec429b38.jpg?ver=1784204923","width":96,"height":96,"caption":"Luke Ford"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=140012#webpage","url":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=140012","name":"Representations of reliability: The rhetoric of political flip-flopping - Luke Ford","description":"I just encountered a communications academic who's consistently clear and fun to read -- Joshua M. Bentley. His latest paper: \"This study used a qualitative analysis of political flip-flops (N = 141) to create a typology of rhetorical strategies for politicians who are perceived to have changed positions on political issues. The core purpose of","inLanguage":"en-US","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/#website"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=140012#breadcrumblist"},"author":{"@id":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?author=1#author"},"creator":{"@id":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?author=1#author"},"datePublished":"2021-06-08T11:37:54-08:00","dateModified":"2021-07-17T08:20:32-08:00"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/","name":"Luke Ford","alternateName":"No Sacred Cows","description":"No sacred cows.","inLanguage":"en-US","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/#person"}}]},"og:locale":"en_US","og:site_name":"Luke Ford - No sacred cows.","og:type":"article","og:title":"Representations of reliability: The rhetoric of political flip-flopping - Luke Ford","og:description":"I just encountered a communications academic who's consistently clear and fun to read -- Joshua M. Bentley. His latest paper: &quot;This study used a qualitative analysis of political flip-flops (N = 141) to create a typology of rhetorical strategies for politicians who are perceived to have changed positions on political issues. The core purpose of","og:url":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=140012","og:image":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/lukesanta.jpg","og:image:secure_url":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/lukesanta.jpg","og:image:width":800,"og:image:height":600,"article:published_time":"2021-06-08T19:37:54+00:00","article:modified_time":"2021-07-17T16:20:32+00:00","article:publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/lukecford","twitter:card":"summary_large_image","twitter:site":"@lukeford","twitter:title":"Representations of reliability: The rhetoric of political flip-flopping - Luke Ford","twitter:description":"I just encountered a communications academic who's consistently clear and fun to read -- Joshua M. Bentley. His latest paper: &quot;This study used a qualitative analysis of political flip-flops (N = 141) to create a typology of rhetorical strategies for politicians who are perceived to have changed positions on political issues. The core purpose of","twitter:creator":"@lukeford","twitter:image":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/lukesanta.jpg"},"aioseo_meta_data":{"post_id":"140012","title":null,"description":null,"keywords":null,"keyphrases":null,"primary_term":null,"canonical_url":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"og_object_type":"default","og_image_type":"default","og_image_url":null,"og_image_width":null,"og_image_height":null,"og_image_custom_url":null,"og_image_custom_fields":null,"og_video":null,"og_custom_url":null,"og_article_section":null,"og_article_tags":null,"twitter_use_og":false,"twitter_card":"default","twitter_image_type":"default","twitter_image_url":null,"twitter_image_custom_url":null,"twitter_image_custom_fields":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"schema":{"blockGraphs":[],"customGraphs":[],"default":{"data":{"Article":[],"Course":[],"Dataset":[],"FAQPage":[],"Movie":[],"Person":[],"Product":[],"ProductReview":[],"Car":[],"Recipe":[],"Service":[],"SoftwareApplication":[],"WebPage":[]},"graphName":"","isEnabled":true},"graphs":[]},"schema_type":"default","schema_type_options":null,"pillar_content":false,"robots_default":true,"robots_noindex":false,"robots_noarchive":false,"robots_nosnippet":false,"robots_nofollow":false,"robots_noimageindex":false,"robots_noodp":false,"robots_notranslate":false,"robots_max_snippet":null,"robots_max_videopreview":null,"robots_max_imagepreview":"large","priority":null,"frequency":null,"local_seo":null,"breadcrumb_settings":null,"limit_modified_date":false,"ai":null,"created":"2023-05-12 09:27:05","updated":"2025-06-05 23:18:18","seo_analyzer_scan_date":null},"aioseo_breadcrumb":"<div class=\"aioseo-breadcrumbs\"><span class=\"aioseo-breadcrumb\">\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\" title=\"Home\">Home<\/a>\n\t\t<\/span><span class=\"aioseo-breadcrumb-separator\">&raquo;<\/span><span class=\"aioseo-breadcrumb\">\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?cat=24\" title=\"Politics\">Politics<\/a>\n\t\t<\/span><span class=\"aioseo-breadcrumb-separator\">&raquo;<\/span><span class=\"aioseo-breadcrumb\">\n\t\t\tRepresentations of reliability: The rhetoric of political flip-flopping\n\t\t<\/span><\/div>","aioseo_breadcrumb_json":[{"label":"Home","link":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog"},{"label":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?cat=24"},{"label":"Representations of reliability: The rhetoric of political flip-flopping","link":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=140012"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140012","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=140012"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140012\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":140016,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140012\/revisions\/140016"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=140012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=140012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=140012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}