David Frum, a former speechwriter for George W. Bush, wrote a good article entitled "When Did the GOP Lose Touch With Reality?" An oversimplification of Frum's point is that Republicans have convinced themselves to believe things that are provably false. Those beliefs are hurting the party and the country.

The full article is here:
http://nymag.com/news/politics/conservatives-david-frum-2011-11/

Or you can listen to an interview of Frum about the article here:
http://www.npr.org/2011/11/24/142743342/david-frum-asks-when-did-the-gop-lose-touch