As to the MYTHOGRIFICATION of Reagan, I recognize GREATNESS when I see it and therefore thought he was a GREAT president at the time. MY esteem and admiration of him now is no GREATER than it was then. The same is true for many of his conservative admirers.
Nobody is knocking RWR. He was a great POTUS. No denying it, even by democrats.
He was optimistic and never lowered himself to trash the opposition.
He is however, responsible for O'Connor and Kennedy.
True enough that Kennedy was his third choice.
And if IIRC, O'Connor voted pretty much with the Constitutionalists while RWR was still of sound mind.
Lots of people, who lived through the Great Depression hated FDR and many who thought that he was good, later came to realize just how terrible he had actually been.
Crystal ball gazing, reading tea leaves, tarot cards, using an Ouija board or what, to channel Reagan? You must be doing something wrong, because no, Reagan's high praise for FDR was not "tweaking" Dems at all, but rather an honest ( though completely incorrect ) Reagan opinion. And yes, that is a fact; not something I made up to suit.
Your "esteem" for Reagan may have grown since he left office, but evidently so has the mythographicated talking points. And yes, the same is very true of many here who have almost no idea at all what President Reagan actually did or said as president.
I helped to get Reagan elected to the presidency twice. He was a truly good president, but no, he was not some damned demi-god, which many on FR have made him out to have been. And every time I have to list the facts, I tend to wince; however, the historical facts of his presidency are completely ignored by his most vociferous FR sycophants.