I was drawn to the fact that many newspapers and online news sources quoted in accord Hillary Clinton’s remark in CNN Democratic presidential debate -“I never took a position on Keystone until I took a position on Keystone” in the headline of their news yesterday (October 14th). Among many articles and video’s reporting Clinton’s riposte to the race rival, Martin O’Malley’s attack questioning her political stance on Keystone pipelines during the debate, www.politico.com describes: > “Martin O’Malley cited Clinton’s stance on the proposed pipeline as > one of “a lot of reversals.” It’s an argument often cited by > Republicans — and one Clinton will almost certainly face if she > becomes the Democratic nominee. But Clinton said she is no > flip-flopper. “**I never took a position on Keystone until I took a > position on Keystone**,” she said. > http://www.politico.com/story/2015/10/hillary-clinton-climate-keystone-debate-214773#ixzz3obxPRttu What is the plain translation of “I never took a position on Keystone until I took a position on Keystone.” Is “I never did sth. until I did sth.” a popular set of phrase to mean that it is the first time ever someone said or did, therefore is no flip-flop or attitudinal change, and there’s no reason for being blamed? Or is it just a nonce expression?