Turnbull puts life into Dennis Shanahan

Jonathan Green — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 00:21:22 +0000

The Australian and its splendidly tonsorial political editor Dennis Shanahan are almost back to the sort of peak form that made the combination a byword for polling-based fantasy through the long months of mid 2007. Todays’ P1 banner “Turnbull puts life into the Libs” is a cracker, based on polling that shows an 8% pump for Malcolm over Nelson’s sorry preferred PM figure. But read the story, stunning:

“Malcolm Turnbull’s election as Liberal leader has dramatically cut Kevin Rudd’s leadership advantages and restored the Coalition’s credentials as economic managers at a time of global financial crisis.”

Wow. It’s not until the seventh paragraph that we learn that despite this romping return to form “the primary vote did not change outside the margin of error”. It isn’t until midway through the piece that we discover the vast bulk of voters – 61% – who think Malcolm Turnbull is an arrogant tosser.

Great to have Shanahan back in the game.

Jonathan Green » newspoll

Turnbull puts life into Dennis Shanahan