You’re mistaken. Bush during his 2nd term appeared to have capitulated and was listening to his liberal wife for advice. The first SCOTUS he proposed was Harriet Myers who would have been an unmitigated liberal disaster.
It was a group of staunch conservatives outside of Congress that got in front of Bush and said “NO!”. They brought Roberts. Later they brought Alito. One of these conservatives was Fred Thompson of Tennessee.
Bush and Republicans put 2 conservative justices on the Supreme court plus hundreds others including the ultra Conservative Janice Rogers Brown on appeals courts. That hurts you , facts hurt you. don’t cry.