"I'm not sure conservatives have established the street credibility necessary to demand that ALL of Bush's nominees be known conservatives"
Which is why the liberals hold on to the Congress/Senate and White House, oh my mistake.
What we have is a party that wants to ride the middle. As long as people admit that then there is no argument. A piddly tax cut here, a big spending program there, kill some fanatic muslims here, throw money at bureacracies there...
What we have is a Gang of 7 that grabbed power from the President to serve their own aspirations for the oval office, led by McCain, a moderate. Now their efforts have resulted in the President nominating stealth nominees instead of known conservatives.
Conservatives cannot demand all nominees be known conservatives, instead of stealth conservatives, until they take down the filibuster.