Not sure this is entirely the correct characterisation. During those days what what I understood, he was holding the Senate from falling completely into the Dem hands and he was being demonised by the MSM for decades. His contract with America rejuvenated the republicans.

Now I do understand that he is a RINO, but in those days he did stand up to Dems.

This is just one article in the Atlantic that tells you how much he was hated by the mainstream. You can lookup news articles about him before Trump and you will see this was the norm.