Yes, it is, isn't it?
Time for my little history lesson, kids.
Back in the hippy-dippy days of the Nixon administration, Republicans (of which I was one, along with everyone in my family except my union-loving maternal grandfather) were obligated to not raise a ruckus about what Tricky Dick was doing if they wanted to go anywhere in the party.
You didn't want to side with the peaceniks and the drugged-out rock-and-rollers and the commies in the universities, after all. They were scum and Republicans are by nature more civilized, more urbane, more intelligent than to get mixed up with free-speechers, hippies and the free-love set which was just about totally anti-Nixon. And on top of that, they never bathed.
Well, August 15, 1971 changed all that. For many free-market oriented conservatives, Nixon had committed a treasonous act by instituting wage and price controls and getting the U.S. officially off he gold standard. His trip to China was generally not well received, either, but it was nothing as compared with his now admitting to be a full-fledged Keynesian. "We're all Keynesians Now."
The turmoil Nixon caused in the Republican Party can only be described as HUGH. My dad, who had been serving as county precinct chairman for several terms, could no longer abide the back-stabbing that soon erupted and resigned. My mother-in-law was essentially ridden out of the party for telling it like it was, and never invited back. She continued to vote Republican until her dying day but did not lift one finger to help her fair-weather friends who believed Nixon could do no wrong.
I have been told that these purges were not a local phenomenon limited to one area, but went on nation-wide in Republican circles.
In hindsight, Nixon caused immense damage to the party not just because of Watergate and all that followed but also his abandoning the conservatives who were and are the party's main get-out-the-vote workers at the local level. Many never forgave Nixon; others were OK with his treasonous acts but never forgave those who criticized him.
It was not a good time to be a Republican is all I can say.
Now, to the point MNJohnnie made about "libertines."
The Libertarian Party was formed by mainly former Republicans as a direct result of Nixon's wage and price controls and abandoning Bretton Woods. You can look it up.
I think that may have been more true of the rank-and-file people attracted to the LP and to libertarianism in general. I think that many hung around for a few years in waiting for something meaningful to happen just to walk away embarrassed at the antics of some prominent oddballs.
You are right on your assessment of Nixon. He is garbage. Put to the original point of MNJohnnie, the Libertines always slam the Right and forget about the Leftists. Just look at this piece from the founder of the modern Libertarian movement, Ron Pauls mentor.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard60.html
If solid Conservative values is all the Libertarians wanted, why did they hate Reagan so much? He is, after all, the gold standard of Republican values.