Kim, I believe Don was refering to the doctrine of Compassionate Conservatism, not that conservatives can't be compassionate people.

There are several books on the subject, including one ghostwritte for GWB. The core doctrine is that religious faith -- only fundamentalist Christian faith, though -- can solve all social problems. Someone is starving? It's their fault because they didn't pray to God properly. The "compassionate" thing to do is to let them starve, but teach them to pray before they die.