I am not much of a fan of Abbott anyway. Whilst Costello may come across as smug doesn't Abbott come across as condescending and quite rude. Andrew Bolt speaks highly of him (and I am a bit of a Bolt fan) but I don't see it.
With the debates, unless we actually see them first hand it is hard to belive anything that is written. Everyone just wants to paint the picture how they would like it to be seen.
It would appear that there is a bit of a politician in all of us.
