G.W. claimed to be a conservative; but I don't think he ever really was.

I don’t think that he really was either. The way that he’s always been so friendly with Barry and Slick Willie is proof of that. Those images of the Bushes, the Clintons and the Obamas posing together, too. No real conservative would want to be so chummy with people of the ilk of those two families.

I also noticed that immediately after his presidency he lost the Texan accent and suddenly sounded like someone who spent most of his life on the east coast.

I noticed that, too. He dropped that accent faster than Leonardo DiCaprio drops girlfriends.

LOL, yes.