Thus, even when GOP Presidents made some aggressive or unilateral moves (such as invading Grenada and Panama, bombing Libya, or building a missile defense system), Europeans generally supported them.
This is in contrast to Bush Jr.'s Presidency. Even before 9/11, Bush Jr. was extremely unpopular in Europe due to his withdrawal from anti-missile treaties and his plans for a missile defense system, despite the fact that Reagan previously supported the idea and that this idea received a lot of support in Europe before.
Of course, the German (and European) left strongly opposed this. They 1980s peace movement loathed Reagan. But the "silent majority" was still more or less loyal to the US.
And besides foreign politics, the GOP, as I pointed out, was not caricatured as negative as today. That is mostly the result of the extreme unpopularity of GWB, put in fact Republicans really
have changed since Bush the elder left office. The majority of the party drifted further away from Europe, culturally and politically.