"Pandering to voters and sacrificing your moral beliefs is weak and most voters will see through it."

"When?"

What has kept John Howard in power so long is his unswerving policy positions despite much public discontent over them. He's seen as a strong leader for pressing ahead with unpopular changes because he clearly believes in what he is doing and is prepared to risk everything on these controversial moves.

Then you have Kim Beazley who reverses his position on 4 mines only despite much criticism from his own party. He has sensed a change in public opinion and knows the current policy is way out of date.

Wayne I take your point regards Howard and Beazley, although Howard has done a few backflips of his own, GST, sales from Telstra 1 to go to environment, more recently Snowy river - just off the top of my head.........and ........ that still doesn't answer my question.

When?

Staying with the devil we know simply means that we accept "Pandering to voters and sacrificing (their) moral beliefs" from our pollies.

So now I fail to see the point you are trying to make.