Actually, you have it exactly backwards. The press has been incredibly, irresponsibly easy on Bush for most of his term. For a long time after 9/11 he was considered off-limits, (a very dangerous thing for any free press), really given a free pass in terms of criticism in the mainstream press. I would not even really categorize any criticism now as brave, the pendulum of public opinion has swung so profoundly against him due to his failures that it's now "safe" for the nutless press to hang him out to dry some. You have the cause and effect reversed, but you frequently miss major points like this so I am not taken aback. You are a "True Believer" my friend. No one can accuse you of disloyalty to the modern GOP, I'll give you grudging respect for that. You "can't quit them", no matter how badly he stumbles as a leader.
The reason that Bush never has a response for criticism is because
he has no response for it. Not because he has risen above it all or does not wish to dignify it. It is a combination of absolute arrogance bordering on contempt for the democratic process combined w/ just good old lack of brain power. If he had given press conferences like every one of our leaders before him he would have been skewered weekly and looked exactly like the "not Presidential" material that he truly is. Any time that he has ever had to think on his feet in this job he has come off like an absolute moron. His supporters say that this usually reliable indicator of a person's intelligence does not apply to him. Riiight.
He's an empty suit of a man, propped-up by cynical political operators and given a free ride because of some extraordinarily unprecedented circumstances. He has been a dismal leader.