“Actually, the sainted Ronald Reagan gave us George Bush. His other mistake was named Sandra Day.”
Good point, though I wonder whether GB1 was his first choice, rather than being foisted on him by the RINO wing.
Reagan had a peculiar weakness when it came to running mates — the liberal Schweiker in 1776 and a flirtation with Gerald Ford in 1980 before choosing Bush.
I think Reagan chose George Bush for the reason you mentioned, that the RINOs wanted him, and he also wanted to reassure independent voters that he was not a total right wing nut.
In the end, Reagan won by a healthy ten points, so he probably could have been elected without the first member of the big-spending compassionate-conservative dynasty.
If only.