I think it goes to show that most conservatives simply do not have a political instinct. This is actually part of what is endearing about our side, it's a testament to the fact that we really just want to be left alone and unmolested in our own individual pursuits. But it's a big weakness when in the ring with the Left, for whom literally everything is political.
My constant refrain is that you should never, ever offer a life line to the enemy. Even if you sometimes think the other side has accidentally stumbled onto something that partly has some merit, why is it our punditry falls all over themselves to point it out? Why the pretense that there is some collegiality between us and them, that at the end of the day we're united by an intellectual need to pursue the truth? That's pure fantasy. We need to take a page out of Alinsky's book, the enemy is 100% wrong and our side is 100% right. Of course that will never mirror objective reality, and that's not even the point. Conservatives just need to learn that this is trench warfare, and niceties will only be used as weapons against us.