Didn't he also get a lot of grief because his wife was working in some way to help either Bush '41 or '43. I just remember somewhere in the deep recesses of my brain something about this.
I don't remember that, but it could well be. Will became more of a Bush 41 type Republican at some point, still affecting a WFB-style air, but without the firm grounding in principle that his earlier work had. He seems very ad hoc in his thought processes lately, which explains why 2 years ago he was against the filibuster.