[Austin Willard Wright]

The trouble is that Noonan is that she assumes that Dubya is motivated by "philosophy." He is the most big-government president since LBJ. Where is the "philosophy" in that other than grubbing for votes and money?

Now...I suppose he could be depicted as a compartmentalized Jekyll-Hyde type e.g. "philosophical" on foreign policy but opportunist on domestic policy but this does not pass the smell test.

[Pest]

Where is the "philosophy" in that other than grubbing for votes and money?

It seems like GW has his own "philosophy" and that is the philosophy of "compassionate conservatism". He is more liberal or centrist on some domestic issues (such as education, health care, etc.), but rather right-wing on foreign policy issues.

Unfortunately, I don't think a hard-core conservative could get elected in today's climate. In fact, I don't think the majority of the people in the U.S. want a hard-core conservative as president. This may come off as socialist, but I really think that with the prosperity of the U.S. right now, most people don't mind the additional government programs. (I'm not one of them.)