When a man you like switches from what he said a year ago, or four years ago, he is a broad-minded person who has courage enough to change his mind with changing conditions. When a man you don't like does it, he is a liar who has broken his promises.

Adams is satirizing partisan double standards in judging consistency. The same act—revising one’s position in light of new information or circumstances—can be praised as intellectual flexibility when performed by an ally, yet condemned as deceit or betrayal when performed by an opponent. The quote highlights how “principle” is often rhetorically assigned after the fact, depending on personal liking rather than evidence. It also implies a more charitable norm for public life: changing one’s mind can be a sign of honesty and responsiveness, but our social and political instincts often reward loyalty over truth-seeking. In that sense, the line is both a critique of bias and a defense of adaptive thinking.