And they saw the Senator's hard-line bluntness as courage and refusal to compromise in an age of political chameleons, as one put it.

In reply, the Governor quoted a newspaper editorial that called Mr. Bush a political chameleon, but he seemed to quickly sense the change in temperature.

Professor van der Bellen has called him an opportunist and a "political chameleon," and many Austrian analysts agree.

Although the author concedes Malcolm's "extraordinary capacity for political ambiguity," he more often characterizes his subject as a "political chameleon."

He is still no political chameleon.

But as all three books point out, Shakespeare was not a political chameleon, exactly, but a pragmatist who knew how to get along and keep his nose clean.

Critics call him an opportunistic political chameleon.

But others suspect him of being an ambitious political chameleon willing to work for anyone so long as he is given the opportunity to exercise power and influence policy.

Wilder has been called a political chameleon, a man with no fixed ideological address.

Even some Republicans, particularly conservatives, said Mr. Rowland was more a political chameleon than an artisan.