Then, how did GWB get away with running as a conservative and still winning? Twice?
I'll grant you that GWB may not have been the conservative he claimed to be, but there were many conservative aspects to his administration. Respect for the military, respect for life, etc.
Indeed, during the 2000 campaign, I was convinced that GWB was the 3rd most conservative candidate to run for the Presidency in my lifetime -- after Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan. Not my idea of "conservative", to be sure, but still "more conservative" than his dad -- or Bob Dole or Richard Nixon, e.g.
Bush was from Texas and knew how republicans thought, even though he didn’t think the same way (although he was more with the conservatives than his father was). He also solidly had the evangelicals behind him, who he heard from in spades, which probably blunted the more moderate to liberal advice that Romney and McCain probably got.
Bush first term was very conservative. Once he was safely re-elected, he started to screw us all. Harriet Myers, Alberto Gonzalez, Katrina, capitulating to the Colin Powell view of the war on terror, talking about clmate change, going along with Tarp, etc. The moderates and liberals wore him down. People like Reagan and Gingrich and Delay (and even Nixon) relished the political fight and went charging in, instead of retreating.