John Anderson was the darling of the “moderates”. Even Jeb’s dad held RR in rather low esteem for his “extremist views” on everything from foreign relations to economics.

Reagan was regarded as the second coming of Barry Goldwater whom the Nelson Rockefeller wing of the party held in very low regard. The left referred to him as Ronald Ray Gun and the squishy “mainstream” seemed to agree.

But since Regan was the most successful president and, easily, the most popular of the last half of the 20th, he is suddenly embraced by everyone to the right of Hubert Humphrey. Remember his funeral where one Democrat after another clamored to link himself to the Reagan Legacy?

The Tea Party Movement is built on that legacy. The time has long past for the current Republican leadership to recognize and embrace that reality.

I can almost bet you are giving God a few tips
on conservative principles.

And I would call it the Liberators. It would feature a smiling Ronald Reagan pointing to something in the distance, with a Margaret Thatcher standing next to him and a Pope JP 2 whispering in his ear.
Next to them in the for-ground would be Lech Walesa, Vaclav Havel, and Andre Sakarhov.