John Howard's politics of conviction and principle are in stark contrast to Julia Gillard's lack of values, argues Robert Katsambis:

“If you just set out to be liked, you would be prepared to compromise on anything at any time, and you would achieve nothing.” - Margaret Thatcher

On last week’s Q&A Craig Emerson suggested that although the Howard government had to deal with “wall to wall state Labor Governments...that did not mean that John Howard and the Liberal Party were toxic”. To this, Howard’s former chief of staff Grahame Morris replied, “I know John Howard and Julia Gillard is no John Howard.”

http://www.menzieshouse.com.au/2012/04/julia-gillard-is-no-john-howard.html

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There was a moment when Prime Minister Julia Gillard praised John Howard as a role model... I believe she honestly meant it for five minutes. Yes, it takes one John Howard's sprouting in the political garden like a weed to lead to the creation of sites like this one, webdiary and nothappyjohn!... Apart from a few aspects, John Howard's "convictions" and principles were based on how long people were able to be led to believe the crap he dished out until he changed tack with a new "everyone knows" turn around. All this followed by a porkie the size of a hot air balloon in winter. If you are familiar with this site, you can peruse from 2005 onward all the Howardisms in which his principles were like snake-oil commodities... 

And believe Gus: "Julia Gillard isn't prepared to compromise on anything just to be liked"... 

Julia Gillard is the most despised PM by the media, ever, hated by the Catholics, by the religious nuts , by the opposition, by men who resent women, by women who resent women not being submissive to men, and by other nutsos around, including some who think "she is a piece of work"... So straight away the Maggie Thatcher argument from that kid-faced gullible gnat at the Menzies House kicks an own goal.

And of course "Julia Gillard is no John Howard"... This goes without saying... Due to the vagaries in the political arrangement of flower pots in parliament, she has had to wheel and deal, which is better than trying to be liked by everyone... There is nothing wrong in making alliances. This has been the staple of politics even since the days of Caesar and King James...

So this little rat at the Menzies House thinks that 

Howard was a politician of conviction whereas Gillard will make any deal to keep alive her political career and does not actually believe in many of the things she does. 

That is a lot of codswallop... Gillard knows what she wants which is far removed from the "religious" nuttery of some people (including the hypocritical religious beliefs say in John Howard and that nut-case Tony Abbott, dubbed the mad monk, not for nothing) 

The difficulties encountered by Gillard is basically that she is a woman with an agenda on a tight budget... This does not mean that other people are excluded and deals cannot be made... especially when one leads a "minority" government which is crazily resented by the conservatives and the media.

Says the little twaddle for the Menzies House:

Contrast this with Julia Gillard. Just one day before the election she declared that “there will be no carbon tax under the government I lead” but shamelessly gave in to Bob Brown’s demands because she lacks conviction on the issue of climate change.

This subservience to the temptation of power dates back to when Gillard led a majority government. Shortly after becoming Prime Minister she was pressured by the mining industry to give Rio Tinto, BHP and Xstrata a better deal under the RSPT for the sake of staying alive politically as opposed to formulating good policy.

Yes, let's not forget that the Menzies House, like most Liberal (conservative) outfits, do believe that "global warming is crap". Thus nothing should be done to reduce its impact... Burn fossil fuel, baby, burn... In fact the Greens had also scored an own goal when they scuttled Rudd's ETS, and Gillard was prepared to bring it back to the table... The mining resource rent tax was going to be another deflating hurdle with every conservative man and his media dog — except decent people who saw resources being taken from under their feet for nothing in return — opposing the concept. The diluted result has shown to be a bit of a fizzer because of a down-turn in commodity pricing, but IT STILL IS A FOOT IN THE DOOR. Actually, Costello should have had the guts to take the initiative on this subject. Costello was a gutless lazy treasurer only happy to see the gold amassing in the surplus box from a few increasing collection plates while flogging the slaves... As far as the "deregulation" of the worker's market, there is "merit" in this only if the chips are cooking and everyone is getting a fair go while everyone has their hand on their heart... This rarely is the case, as bosses often take advantage of workers, even if they don't see it that way, especially those who are the most vulnerable. As soon as the chips are down, Howard's views of employment become nightmares in hell for many. 

Have we forgotten Howard's "never ever GST"? Have we forgotten how Howard took us to war in Iraq on a whim and many lies? Have we forgotten all his other flip-flops, the destruction of medicare and his baby bonus devilishly followed by the jacking up of education costs?... 

John Howard was a con artist, a trickster — possibly with principles, but many of these came from the book of shove wrapped in ugly populism — while Julia Gillard, for a politician, is actually more trustworthy than most. Even if she pragmatically changes her mind, there is no ill-intent in her actions, as wrong as some people want to paint them. Sure some of the stuff she's trying to do is not working, but most of the things she's done are.

Actually, I got stunned the other day... One of my mate, a Liberal (conservative), told me — without prompting NOR JOKING — that Julia Gillard was the best Prime Minister this country ever has had... She got more things done than most... No, really, the old 75 year old man was not joking. He had seen blue murder before... He actually really admired her guts ... She had to deal with this Rudd-this and that Tony-Abbott-that and a hostile loopy media while steering good ol' Australia ship in still GFC infested waters... And of all things, she has to deal with all those crazy Greens whose crazy agendas were spilling into areas they had no idea about... AND she also had to deal with sexism from women and men alike. I am prepared to believe he had bought the stone to build a pedestal — unless he had a secret sexual fantasy with red heads, but that would be demeaning his truthful admiration....

My mate, the Liberal (conservative) terminated his assessment of the situation by telling me aloud, and the crowd around heard him, that Tony Abbott was a dangerous idiot (he also used other words such as "prick" prefaced by "little", but most words would be insulting my keyboard should I type them in)... "They should bring back Malcolm..." he shouted with conviction. I nearly fell off my chair... I don't think they'd love him, my mate, at all, in the Liberal (conservative) think (they don't really think, but they certainly come up trumps in being septic and skeptic alike) tanks...