If there’s one thing we know about Hillary Clinton it’s that she’s never seen a position on any issue in American politics which she couldn’t fully embrace if it suited her needs at the moment. The woman has so many flip flops tucked away in her campaign closet that Imelda Marcos is jealous of her. But apparently this incredible ability is contagious and if you spend any amount of time in her company you can begin flip flopping as well. This affliction struck Tim Kaine in relatively short order after accepting the invitation to be her running mate and it’s only getting worse as time goes by.

This week, America Rising PAC came across yet another example. Once an avid proponent of domestic energy exploration in virtually all its forms, Kaine is suddenly opposed to offshore drilling.

Last night, after a rally in North Carolina, America Rising trackers asked Kaine about yet another flip – his position on offshore drilling. When asked why he changed his position on offshore drilling, Kaine said the following:

KAINE: “Um, I’m not sure that I did. Oh, you know what, but with respect to the Department of Defense objected to it off the shore, and that’s really where, that’s a huge industry in Virginia, the Department of Defense, and we can’t jeopardize that.”

So Kaine is going to lay this at the feet of the Department of Defense and a very ambiguous review they conducted and reported on because, hey… you can’t go arguing with the DoD. That’s strange, because America Rising took no time at all to dig up this quote from Kaine at the time that the original report came out.

“I am particularly struck by the material objections of the Department of Defense to the incompatibility of drilling with naval operations off Virginia’s coast, cited by the BOEM as one of the three principal reasons for their decision. I have participated in this debate for over a decade as a Governor and member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. The DOD has been relatively quiet during this public debate and has never shared their objections with me before. I look forward to additional discussions with DOD to understand its position.”

Kaine has been a proponent of offshore drilling for years. The reasons he used to cite were very solid ones, including the opportunity for new, well paying jobs for Virginia’s citizens. But now he’s suddenly joined up with the Keep it in the Ground crowd. Perhaps Hillary Clinton really did pick the ideal running mate after all. Her dedication to causes she claims to believe in is a mile wide and much less than an inch deep, quickly evaporating as soon as the winds of public opinion begin to shift. It seems that Kaine had some latent tendencies along those lines himself and it only took a few weeks of tutoring at Hillary Clinton’s feet before they emerged.

But he’s not quite there yet. Or at least he’s not as comfortable playing the role. We’ll close with this quick clip of the AR reporter asking him about his new opposition to domestic energy and his somewhat stammering attempt to play it off like the boss does. With a bit more practice, he may become an expert, but he’ll have to do better than this.