Talk radio killed the Republican Party?

Conservative talk radio relies on making broad assertions regardless of whether the facts support them.  Republicans got used to this over the decades and in the process lost the art of nuance and persuasion.  They became a hive mind of social values, creationism, deficit spending, starting wars, etc...  Now they're in the minority party and don't know how to convince independents to join them, other than to desperately make  broad assertions, regardless of whether the facts support them.

Anyone who thinks talk radio was enthusiastically backing John McCain this election needs to pay closer attention.  It was pretty questionable if many conservatives were even going to vote for McCain until he picked Sarah Palin as his VP.