That was in a large part Reagan's fault. I have always wondered why Reagan didn't groom a successor to carry on his policies--for example, naming Jack Kemp to a prominent position in the Cabinet. When the 1988 Republican presidential primary race came down to Bush vs. Dole, the Reagan revolution was over.
Reagan had tremendous success against the traditional failings of the GOP. He didn't have much to work with. Most of his cabinet came from his California governor days or outside the GOP establishment.
The GOP had been the loser party since Hoover. Reagan changed that for twenty years before it went back to being the loser party. That's more than what anybody else accomplished. Reagan's gone. It's up to us now.
Reagan was forced to take GHWBush by the GOPe. They (the GD Yankee Rooozzzevelt Repubs) had tried to force GHWB on Nixon...it’s all there in the History books.
Because he had people like Rumsfeld who convinced him he needed a squishy moderate (George Bush the elder) on the ticket. When I saw Bush’s response (or really, non-response) to the pony-tail guy who asked about government as daddy, I knew it was all over. The Bush moderates have held sway over the party ever since.