SNAKES, freaks and sewer rats are what Mark Latham sees when he looks at the Labor caucus and there is no escaping his scathing criticisms have landed a debilitating body-blow to the party.
How Labor reacts to this attack from within will determine its survival chances in the face of what could be a mortal wound.
Commentators inside and out of the party agree that the vicious offence from the former leader will harm him as much as anyone else, if not more so.
Yet as much as that consensus rings true, the fact remains that the ALP has been forced into damage control. It could take some doing before a light on the hill can once more be spotted through the dark tunnel Labor now finds itself in.
The blight Latham has inflicted on himself no longer matters in the realm of public policy-making and aspiration for high office.
The former leader has left politics with no desire and even less prospects for a return.
Everyone knew Mark Latham was volatile and prone to slinging around vulgar, confronting barbs.
Some would say, perhaps aided by the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, that Latham had long been on the road to self-destruction.
So debate about Latham this week is revealing nothing too surprising.
What is challenging to the voting public, however, are the accusations Mr Latham has published about others in the party.
If the public regarded Latham as sleazy, it didn’t see Kim Beazley in that same light.
Latham is now asking Australians to reassess their perceptions of the man widely regarded as most decent in character.
Outrageous slurs
He is also asking them to look at frontbencher Kevin Rudd as an ambitious manipulator who would use his own mother’s death to gain sympathy for promotion.
These could be outrageous slurs, but there is no doubting some of the Latham mud will find their targets and stick.
Accepting Labor powerbrokers like Stephen Conroy and Robert Ray were involved in dirty backroom politicking would be a survivable ask.
But should public confidence in the very decency of Beazley and Rudd be rocked to the core, Labor will have a critical problem.
The Labor leadership will hang its trust on a discerning public in the hope that it will treat the Latham remarks with contempt.
Reactions so far from Beazley and the immensely dignified and talented Julia Gillard have shown a maturity lacking in Latham.
But then the complete diaries have yet to hit the bookshelves.
Chris Johnson is a federal political reporter for The West Australian newspaper.
