Just goes to show that candidates say whatever they think will fill the vacant niche that gets them to 270 somehow. The years following showed that, no, Gore wasn't "more conservative" than Bush in any significant way. Another thing to consider is that it might not really have been strictly "conservative" to voice those opinions in 2000.
Bush blew the deficit to kingdom-come, Gore would've continued the tradition of 90s clintonism of making cuts to balance the budget. No Iraq War for starters, and if he also won a second term, he would not have let Lehman Brothers collapse (Bush only did that due to GOP pressure).
Compare Clinton/Gore rhetoric to Bush/Cheney 'deficits don't matter'.
