No conservative should consider Bush 41 anything but a failure if for no other reason than the fact he put a far-left wing justice on SCOTUS. That was inexcusable.
Most GOP presidents would be "failure" by that margin (and mark my words, neither of Trump's SCOTUS picks will vote to overturn Roe v. Wade). Reagan was 1 out of 3 when it came to good conservative SCOTUS appointments (O'Connor and Kennedy both sided with the left on key rulings). Even Coolidge put a horrible New Deal-loving leftist on the court, thinking he would be a good conservative.
I consider Gorsuch to be far more "inexcusable" than Souter. Souter wasn't being tapped to replace an iconic conservative justice and being presented to a GOP-controlled Senate for confirmation.