Reagan left office about as popular as anyone in history. Why on earth would he worry about his enshrined legacy? I can see the desperation in his detractors a quarter of a century after the man left office. Now that's a legacy!
I see why you were named Meathead (dead from the neck up).
Fact: Reagan was not loved by conservatives when he left office.
Do you know what Reagan's popularity was his last year in office? Mostly between 49% & 53%.
Do you know what it must have been with conservatives? Read the past press he received form conservatives, in their very own words they now try to run away from
revisionism doesn't work where information is available
Fact: When Reagan left office his biggest detractors were conservatives
His biggest detractors still are Conservatives. He damaged Conservatism immeasurably by creating this false new brand of "Conservatism" which I call Pseudo-Conservatism. It says that small, weak govt is good. Low taxes on the rich and low spending is good. None of that was was the TRUE Consevatism before reagan came along.
When Eisenhower (a TRUE Conservative) was in power, none of this Reaganist nonsense was in effect. Then we had a big, strong govt. fueled by high taxes on the rich, and lots of spending on Conservative things (ie. CONSERVING America's values, principles, and culture, building infrastructure, and defending Americans from harm).
We got the interstate highway system built. We built a strong military and law enforcement system. We chased illegal aliens back to Mexico in Operation ******* in 1954 (only to have Reagan give them amnesty). Same sex marriage was illegal in all 50 states, and queers were vetted from teaching positions (Reagan supported the infamous Briggs Initiative in 1978). Eisenhower kept foreign adversaries in line, including giving Kennedy advice in the 1962 Cuban Missle Crisis, while Reagan ran form Muslim terrorists in Lebanon after they killed 200+ US Marines.
Worst of all, Reagan's new (and weird) small govt concept stopped tax $$ from getting to the federal govt where they were needed for Conservative functions like the INS, FBI, CIA, DEA, federal prison system, etc.