Actually, Rush, Hannity, Ingraham, etc. and plenty of Freepers would have considered Reagan a flaming liberal if he was running now based upon his record as governor of CA.
I loved Reagan and voted for him. But he wouldn't be "conservative" by today's definition. Even so-- he was the right man at the right place and time. We forget that.
His massive amnesty for illegals, his tripling of the federal budget, his nomination of liberal judges like O'connor and Souter... his abandonment of Lebanon... and more... if FreeRepublic had existed in the 80's we'd have ripped him apart as a RINO.
His rhetoric was good, and he was EXACTLY the man we needed at the time, but he wasn't even as conservative as GWB in the way that he actually governed, in many ways.
We forget sometimes that it is the times that make the man moreso than the man who makes the times. Sometimes we care too much about a candidate's past, when it is what they actually do in office that matters, and many times it may be different than we fear.