Bush-bashing tends to work against all Republicans. If you want to criticize Bush, Do complain to a Republican congressman if he holds to a position you dislike. Send a hundred dollars. That will catch his attention. BUT all this stuff about Bush not being a conservative: He is as conservative as anyone who could be elected president. Haven't you noticed that bother McCain and Rudy are far more liberal? The hatred that liberals have for him is not simply a matter of frustration. He does things they hate. He never goes as far as Nixon did to placate the left. Just recall Nixon's social and fiscal polices which continued under Ford. The pit that Carter fell into was owing to his continuation and extension of liberal Republican policies.
Pardon me for butting in here, but the current call to pragmatism among Republican loyalists is, in this case, profoundly unpragmatic.
It's simply a fact that the party has, with the illegal immigration issue, piled on the straw that has finally broken the base's back.
A personal anecdote: every two years, my Republican club opens a headquarters for GOTV and various pre-election turnout type tasks. This year, what we, and others in the area are hearing is "No thanks. Not this year. The President and the liberals in the party have gone too far, and I'm not only staying home for GOTV, I'm staying home, period." Now, you might disagree with that, but it's a fact the party has to either deal with, or lose big.
Right now, it looks like the plan is to lose big. Personally, I think this will result in More Bad Things than if the Republicans stayed in power, but politics is the art of the possible, not the ideal. The president has a tin ear on immigration, and the party, and the nation, will suffer for it.