A learning experience

This quote from Andrew Sullivan (re: the SotU), "If you're a fiscal conservative or a social liberal, this was a speech that succeeded in making you take a second look at the Democrats. I sure am," meshes nicely with the post that's been humming through my brain for a couple of days. Clearly, I have an incredibly biased opinion when it comes to Bush (and most of the members of his administration). I think I've been pretty clear and honest about that. However, I also like to think that I am capable of being open-minded and listening to other opinions and being convinced by effective rhetoric. Therefore, I am asking those who consider themselves to be conservative republicans, or who at one time supported Bush, or who currently support Bush, to please explain to me why they think he's doing a good job. Or if there are any specific areas in which you believe he is improving our country. I ask this because, again, I admit a severe lack of knowledge, but my general impression of the political beliefs of republicans leads me to wonder why even his own party is supporting the president. It seems to me that even when applying a completely different set of political beliefs than the ones I personally hold, Bush is still doing a bad job, and doing bad things in general. I haven't been able to find much opposition in political thought among my group of friends here, and I know there are well-informed, thinking conservatives out there (I certainly went to school with enough of 'em) and I seriously would like to understand this point of view better. Also, I realize this is not going to happen, but in the hypothetical situation where the GOP decides they don't like Bush either, what sort of precedent is there for choosing a different candidate from within the same party when a president is running for reelection?