Was Ronald Reagan a Republican?

By Angie Drobnic Holan, Louis Jacobson
Published on Tuesday, December 1st, 2009 at 11:06 p.m.

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A new Republican litmus test "would have resulted in (the GOP) kicking out Ronald Reagan."

Keith Olbermann, Monday, November 23rd, 2009.

Ruling: Half-True | Details

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President Ronald Reagan in 1991 inside a replica of the Oval Office at his presidential library in California.

To enforce ideological purity, a proposal before the Republican National Committee would deny party funding to any GOP candidate who bucks the party's stance on at least three items from a 10-point checklist of issues.

Keith Olbermann, the liberal host of Countdown on MSNBC, told viewers that the resolution would have effectively blackballed Ronald Reagan himself had it been in place during his political career. By Olbermann's count, the late conservative icon would have scored a measly four out of 10 -- just half of the eight he would have needed to secure financial backing from the party.

We scrutinize the record and find some holes in the case Olbermann made. We rated his statement Half True; read our complete report for a thorough review of Reagan's record .