Abu Wabu

For decades they demonized him. Now that they see the nation gravitating to his ethos and principles, leftists want to deny their vicious savaging of Ronald Reagan and are attempting to glom onto his legacy for their decidedly anti-Reagan goals.

Jonah Goldberg exposes the phony Reagan-lovers' perfidy:

While the encomiums to Reagan & Co. are welcome, the reality is that very little has changed. As we saw in the wake of the Tucson shootings, so much of the effort to build up conservatives of the past is little more than a feint to tear down the conservatives of the present. It’s an old game. For instance, in 1980, quirky New Republic writer Henry Fairlie wrote an essay for the Washington Post in which he lamented the rise of Reagan, “the most radical activist of them all.” The title of his essay: “If Reagan Only Were Another Coolidge . . . ”

Even then, the only good conservative was a dead conservative.

UPDATE
And along comes Bryan Preston to further explain:

But now, pace Mitchell, here comes Eugene Robinson to say pretty much the same thing: Today’s Republicans would regard Reagan as something less than an orthodox conservative. Riiiiight.

Here’s what’s going on. Liberals in the media have surrendered to Ronaldus Magnus. They’ve surrendered to him. They called Reagan a radical back in the day. They fretted that his election would trigger world war with the Soviets. They believed and said every bad thing about Reagan then that they say about conservatives now. And none of what they said or did mattered at all. Reagan defeated them, and his record still defeats them now.

So they’ve surrendered, and are trying to rip him out of the conservative movement’s hands.

As I said here, watch for Ronald Reagan's philosophy and legacy to become the driving issues in 2012.

And don't expect Andrea Mitchell to be any more honest about him then than she is now.