After 2004, GW immediately pushed for serious Social Security reform which all the gutless wonder in the Congress immediately turn and ran from. 1st serious attempt to reform an Entitlement program since the 1930s and instead of backing him, all the Neo Isolationist clowns in the Conservative Media immediately spent all their time whining that he was not ideological pure enough for them.
Gutless was on both sides. He "pushed" Not very hard and not very convincingly. He failed to promise to VETO every thing until they got it done. He was not a Conservative leader, just a "suggester". And fiscal prudence just wasn't that big a deal to him...either ideologically or politically.
His lack of vetos until late into his 2nd term was almost over is legendary in telegraphing the weakness on the allegedly conservative principles he had intimated to have...
W had no stomach for a fight...except for trashing the middle class with his illegal alien amnesty, his outsourcing defenses, his Law of the Sea Treason, his flooding money into the real estate market bubble, his trashing conservatives as being sexist and imposing a glass ceiling on his Harriet Meiers appointment, his trying to accomodate Saudi/UAE financial plans over U.S. port security, and then his spectaculorly anti-conservative Bank Bailouts.
And then you go mouthing off about "neo's" in the Conservative Media trashing Bush as impure.... actually...the "neo's", i.e., the ex-democrats...were the ones...like you...DEFENDING W.
And conservatism is more than simple fiscal frugality and small government, albeit its a start. It also is founded on preserving our liberty, whereas W had clear notions that were in conflict with that, encroaching with Federalism over States, and his continuing "don't ask, don't tell" military policy on gays that Klinton had started. His Federalising education. His Drugs for Seniors. His berating Americans as bigots on his Amnesty scam, his refusal to get the Fence that was REQUIRED BY LAW to be built, and the clearly Executive-Ordered prosecution of Ramos and Campeon spoke volumes to every American...and especially any legitimate conservative.