Why I like Bill Adama at least most of the time
I brought some of this up after Razor, but I'll say it again: Bill's primary concern is he crew's physical well-being, and he'll go to some extremes to ensure it. He'll lie about knowing Earth's location. He'll drop everything to look for a lost crewman. He'll plan to rescue colonists. He can be kind if he understands the problem, and he can be forgiving once he gets past his anger.
Now, once everyone's rescued and back on the ship, Bill will expect them to get to work and be happy because Bill is about as sensitive as part of the hull. He is a terrible person to be a father to Lee because they are completely opposite. Lee is all internal and idealistic and angstful. Bill is external and pragmatic and hopeful.
That was why Lee's weight gain pissed him off so much...it was a flashing signal that Lee WAS NOT OK, despite the fact that he had a ship and that he was safe, and Bill didn't have a reason for the lack of ok. Yes, the colonists were trapped. Obviously, therefore, one should come up with a plan, implement said plan, and move on.
Even in the mini, he eventually agrees with Roslin that the answer is not to fight (his first instinct), but to flee and survive, the move toward hope.
He has a terrible temper, and knows it, especially when he thinks someone has been disloyal. This is, I think, why he keeps his emotions under tight control most of the time. In his anger over Roslin's insistance on going after the Arrow, and in her suborning of Kara, he allows the fleet to split. Eventually, Dee (who's going to make the 'I love Dee' post? ;)), is able to talk him past the anger, and make him see that he is physically endangering everyone. In a telling moment, he goes after them and basically apologizes. That was a big move for him, agreeing to support Roslin, in sight of the crew after what happened. He give her his loyalty, and it's pretty much unconditional after that.
His belief in loyalty makes him overlook/forgive Tigh's many faults. Tigh screwed up while Bill was shot, but he was trying to do what he thought Bill wanted. Rightly or wrongly, that counted with him. Once Tigh no longer endangering the crew with his actions, he accepted him back without question. I imagine the same happened with Starbuck.
Other points...Boomer is caged and restrained, but not abused. Certainly, Bill doesn't allow what happened to Gina to happen to her. He goes to war with Cain to retrieve Helo and Tyrrol. I'm pretty sure he didn't know about the decision to tell Boomer that Hera had died, because he wouldn't have gone along with it. He was starting to feel some loyalty towards her by then and I don't think he would have allowed her to believe her child died.
Some of the matters that make Bill look bad are the result of the writers' shorthand. We don't SEE Tigh or Starbuck doing anything that would actually endanger the ship, so Bill's reaction is out of proportion. I gather there were supposed to be some scenes that showed them in worse light. Same with him brushing off Helo. He was supposed to have done some wolf-crying earlier that made the reactions of the others more believable.
So, yeah, I like Bill...at least most of the time.