Bush as the compassionate conservative

While I have by no means read through any transcripts of the secretely taped conversations of Bush and his 'friend' Doug Wead (by the way, could that be any more ironic?), the snippets that I've read seem to portray a somewhat thoughtful man at least cognizant enough to know that to judge one person as a 'sinner', yourself being a 'sinner', is a little hypocritical. He also shows a resolute attitude towards getting involved in rumors about his or opponents personal lives.
uummm, I find myself agreeing with. He says, and I'm paraphrasing here, that someone has to draw the line and not answer these questions/rumors (concerning alledged cocaine abuse).
He's right, someone has to.
Bush comes off comparitively well in the tapes as far as I'm concerned.
But (and you knew there would be a 'but'), here is what is scary--where did this man go? To me, this shows the absolute dominance of those he surrounded himself with to shape and forge his policy and tactics of campaigning, and that makes Bush weak.
Stop treading on personal rumors? Maybe we should tell that to the phone bank that called voters in South Carolina before the 2000 primary and intimated that John McCain fathered an out of wedlock black child (McCain and wife adopted a child from Southeast Asia). Maybe we should tell that to the Swift Boat veterens and the people that alleged that Kerry had an affair (proved false so quickly even conservative bloggers couldnt get a hold of it).
George Bush, so much promise possibly (maybe not) but weak, weak, weak.
Just more fodder for the Rove/Cheney is really president crowd.