Mortal thoughts on the Lib Dems and a new centre party

A sobering paragraph* in Isabel Hardman's Evening Standard article on the prospects for a new centre party:

 It is certainly the case that none of those wavering Labourites would defect straight to the Lib Dems if they ever do manage to find the courage to leave their own party. Many of them confess to feeling very politically close to certain Lib Dems such as Norman Lamb and Jo Swinson, but feel the Lib Dem brand is damaged beyond repair. 

Even those Lib Dems who think their party can lead the change agree that there are significant branding problems. They’re quite comfortable, for instance, with the idea of the party’s name changing, and it not being what one thinker describes as ‘too precious about what we stand for, beyond being liberals, of course’. 

But isn't the Lib Dem brand so damaged because we weren't precious enough about what we stood for when we went into coalition with the Conservatives?

* It's one paragraph in the Standard. I tend to break up newspaper paragraphs when I quote them to make them easier to read online.