When Reagan had his A-game: Reagan was not stupid; nor was he an evil mastermind. Reason published an interview it had with Reagan back in 1975. It's really quite good, and gets into to some significant degree, his views on libertarians. In this interview, you see that Reagan was really on-the-ball and had a definite personal philosophy that we rarely heard him enunciate. Yes, he did act in a way that reflected this mindset, but when a President is speaking, its politics, not philosophy. Here it is in two sentences:

So, I think the government has legitimate functions. But I also think our greatest threat today comes from government’s involvement in things that are not government’s proper province. And in those things government has a magnificent record of failure.

Anyway, the notion that he was an empty head is simply propoganda. I will reserve what I think about Reagan the politician for another time. I do respect his memory, even if I'm not quite ready to canonize him.

Oh, and link props to Radley.