Yep. Bush made a conscience decision to remain mute when faced with withering criticism of him and of conservative values and policies. It was as if he was embarrassed and ran away from Conservatives.
In the end, Conservatives ran away from him. There is no other statistical explanation as to how a president get into the 30s without losing their base. Bush clearly abandoned his base and they returned the favor.
I can understand that he kept quiet when he was president, but I wished he had taken revenge on the media after he was out of office. It was disappointing that he kept quiet.
W tried really hard to push thru amnesty in his last year. A real turncoat to his base.