I really don't fathom why there are so many otherwise sane conservatives who continue to defend Bush and Cheney. If a Democrat did or said half of what they got away with, their defenders would be screaming bloody murder, and rightly so. I think it just boils down to kneejerk party loyalty.
You are correct. They are not called bushbots for their conservative positions. These are the people who will line up to vote for Jeb even if he calls for open borders and intervenes in dozens of other Schiavo cases.