Thanks for the comment–”Crying scarecrow” is perfect, I think. Flopping works by analogy. As to the other part of your comment, I think you also raise an interesting point about straw manning. Perhaps it is a natural tendency for the holder of a losing position (any position) to cry scarecrow, as a defeated position can never be her position–her position is smart and made sense to them. So if you show for instance that it’s mathematically impossible that the 47 percent of Romney fame not include people living on justly earned (though paltry) Social Security (as well as others), you will claim that you did not mean them, because that sounds bad. This is pretty much what Ryan is doing. In this environment, however, critical engagement will never work. One will wonder why she should bother.

I agree there should be a term, but I’m hard-pressed to think of a catchy one. “Flopping” probably works. I’m not sure “Crying Scarecrow” (crying wolf/straw man) rolls off the tongue, and you may need a general term for any incorrect accusation of fallacy. I’ve used “Rove Reversal” for “accusing your opponent of what you’re guilty of,” but I’m not sure that’s ideal here.