Hi, Pendonbio;
Maybe it's a matter of the negative stuff sticking more in my memory, and I'll admit that your political memory is likely better than mine, but...
I *do* remember a lot of fanatical demonization of Reagan by the left - casting him as a trigger-happy nuclear cowboy who was going to start WWIII; going to town on him for napping in cabinet meetings; the "Ronald Wilson Reagan = 666 mark of the beast" connection. I really don't remember the left showing Reagan much respect, except maybe early on.
As for Carter, same thing. Maybe the right was ok on him early, but they savaged him over the Iran hostage crisis, the various ethics problems in his cabinet, and now he's mocked and hated probably more even than Clinton is among conservatives.
I agree that things reached a new level of organized intensity under the attack machine that developed against Clinton, but it seems to me that as long as I can remember people have been ripping the shit out of the other guys' Presidents.
-mid