Any thinking is better than none.
Reagan got at least as much crap as Bush is getting, on his religion, his intelligence, his unwillingness to drop to his knees for our adversaries, you name it. Eight solid years of it.
The only major difference is that Reagan was going to plunge us into nuclear war any second, something they can't get Bush on because the Soviet Union is gone now.
The press was hauled kicking and screaming by Drudge and the alternative media into the Clinton affair. After that, they didn't have a lot of choice, and admittedly, the ratings were good.