Why didn't Republicans use their "time-out" wisely to get in touch with Americans?

Much as a misbehaved two year old is given a "time-out" to think about their behavior and basically "wise-up", why didn't Republicans use their time-out (also known as rejection by the American public) to try to get in touch with voter feelings and sentiment beyond a lame Joe the plumber? Why did they take the wrong route to misbehave further by becoming even more extreme and expecting it would meet average American approval (the adults)?