Here, courtesy of old Romney clip digger-upper Andrew Kaczynski, is Mitt Romney describing to a group of uninterested old Iowa ladies at the 2004 Republican convention the phenomenon of John Kerry's flip-flopping. It's an excellent briefer on how competent politicians can end up flip-flopping. Thanks, Mitt Romney!

He first describes how it's "standard operating procedure" in campaigns to "look at your opponent's record, you find someplace where he or she has changed positions and you say they're a flip-flopper." True! But in John Kerry's case, Romney says, "this guy really is!" He doesn't ever explain how John Kerry's flip-floppery is different from that of your garden variety flip-flopper. He does, however, use John Kerry's example to lay out one of the more detailed, comprehensive descriptions of how flip-flopping works that you'll ever see a politician give, going on at length about how well-meaning politicians are involuntarily broken down by differing factions or powerful interest groups within their own party. Who is Mittens speaking to here? No one in the room is listening. He's talking too fast for old people. So what we have here is Mitt Romney frenetically talking to himself about the crap he'll have to deal with, as a Massachusetts Republican, when he tries to win a national Republican party primary. At least that's how we're looking at it in retrospect, because we can.

He also tells a Conan O'Brien Joke which he "thought was kinda cute." Telling a 2004-era Conan joke to old Iowa ladies? Oh, Mittens.