1. The condescension of folks who post from your perspective never ceases to amaze me.
2. I personally have never told anyone to "watch what he does, not what he says," nor am I ever likely to. Why? Since human beings can't read minds (despite what the Art Bell crowd says), what a person says is the best indicator of what he/she is likely to do.
3. George W. Bush is governing exactly as he represented himself to be in the 2000 election — as a compassionate conservative. I have always interpreted the phrase to mean that where he fits on the political spectrum is somewhere between the far right and the northeast-style Rockefeller Republicans. In other words, where most Republicans also are on the political spectrum.
4. Those who simply refuse to acknowledge the conservative aspects of this presidency because they disagree with the "compassionate" — meaning moderate — aspects, in all likelihood are rigid ideologues, if not outright demagogues. Either that, or they weren't paying attention to the Bush-Cheney campaign in 2000.