Old, desperate and sneaky

 Not me.  John Howard.

According to Labor Party focus group research, which suggests Mr Howard may be in terminal decline with “soft Liberal” voters: the blue-collar and mortgage-belt base on which the Liberals have built four consecutive election wins, and concludes:

“John Howard’s decline is continuing with soft voters. The trend away from Howard among soft, formerly Liberal voters is marked and has grown since the last round of focus groups”.

The research nominates four key findings by voters listed under the headings: “He should have retired”; “Past his use-by date”; “Desperate”; and “Not keeping up”.  Or to paraphrase it:  old, desperate and sneaky.

The problem for the Liberals is that potential replacements in the party can only address one of those issues.  They may be a bit younger, but they are still desperate and sneaky.