Originally Posted by Manx

Bush will do what the Republican party wants him to do. Which has now been demonstrated to be strongly based on the social conservative agenda.

He will do this because this is exactly what Republicans must do in order to maintain their ability to win elections. He, himself, may not have any more elections to worry about, but he does know that he must support the Republican base.

As Karl Rove said, he needed the 4 million Evangelicals to vote in 2004 that didn't vote in 2000. They did. His party won. This will continue to be true in all future elections as long as the fiscal conservatives align themselves with the social conservatives.