On Leonard Nimoy: I'm no Trekkie, but I know a leftist when I see one.

No, it doesn't really "come as a surprise that, at the height of his initial fame, Nimoy was an ardent McGovern man." George McGovern had little chance of winning the presidency in 1972. However, a strong case can be made that his legacy extends far beyond his defeat that year. Moreover, it simply isn't logical to posit Nimoy as a Reaganite, is it?

Mr. Spock Was a McGovernite: Remembering Leonard Nimoy’s ‘Live Long and Prosper’ Politics, John Nichols (The Nation)

... Asked by an Alaskan television interviewer if he thought it was fair to use his celebrity status to “boost” McGovern, Nimoy replied, “I think it’s about as fair as Ronald Reagan running for governor of California based on the fact that he’s done some movies…. I try very hard to avoid asking people to vote for George McGovern simply because they like me. I try to present some specific information, I try to be very much in touch with the issues so that I can give an intelligent accounting of the candidate—rather than to just do it on a celebrity basis.”