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I think it has a lot to do with the failure of Reagen-based conservatism both politically and economically. What happens when your party reinvents itself and 30 years later (20 years of which were Republican) nearly everything about that reinvention has failed? Reaganomics failed, the military industrial complex has failed, the marriage of the right and the evangelicals has failed, fiscal conservatism turned out to be a promise no Republican could keep, etc.
So the right has to either face the truth, that it's time for another reinvention, or they can radicalize and go into denial. Some conservatives are waking up to the fact that it's time to reexamine the ideology and clean house, but the right wing media has chosen the other path for the most part, and the right wing of the media does represent the center of conservative power and influence right now. In order for conservatism to survive, it has to do something it's not comfortable with: change and adapt. I know conservatives willing to change, but they're not in the seats of power or influence, so they're largely marginalized by their fellow conservatives. What we need is a moderate conservative on the Republican ticket in 2012 to bring with him or her a new conservative vision, followed by replacing Beck and ORly and Hannity on Fox News with more moderate conservatives.
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