Bush Sr. openly despised conservatives, except at Election time when there was no alternative for his election. What the country club Republicans do not realize is that the left in the US will not vote for them under any circumstances; and there is no way to get elected if 80 percent of the Party base feels that you have insulted and despise them.
The history of Republicans stiffing conservatives goes back many decades. Anyone who is not aware should check into what they did to Taft at the convention in ~1952.