Reagan did it right.
He knew how to connect with people.
On one hand, he was a social conservative, who didn't get "preachy" with people but appealed to their old fashioned American values. Doing this he got the evangelical vote and the "Reagan Democrats" who weren't necessarily overtly religious but espoused traditional values.
At the same time, he was able to appeal to the Country Clubbers, the defense hawks, and the fiscal conservatives and supply siders by focusing on that side of his philosophy.
Then, he appealed to the libertarian types by focusing on small government.
I don't necessarily think that the Rockefeller Republicans are automatically against a social conservative. But when that social conservative decides that he should use his power to FORCE social values while IGNORING small government common-sense, they get resentful, and that's what has happened.
The GOP of 2006 forgot about that. People say "Reagan's gone, let's move on" and of course they're right, BUT we can't forget the lessons learned that he taught us, on how to be a winner, not a loser, and how to get things done.