Conservatives need not become vicious or nasty. They need simply to become direct and unapologetic. I see Ann Coulter operating exactly in this way, plus she adds wit to directness. Her remarks about Edwards were a hoot, and if the Left can't take a joke, then that's just too bad.
Remember: unapologetic.
Ms. Coulter too often drifts into nastiness, and humor driven by nastiness isn't funny.
One of the reasons I like Sean Hannity is that for the most part he tries to get liberals to say where they stand, and thus expose their absurd positions for what they are. I get most annoyed at him when he tries to talk over the people he's interviewing, though I recognize that sometimes that can be a result of technical issues.
One thing I wish conservatives would recognize is that a good conservative can score more points by answering hard questions than easy ones. I remember around 1992 Rush Limbaugh appeared on the Donahue show. A crowd filled with liberals, but I found Rush Limbaugh's answers on that show far more convincing (I was a liberal then) than anything he'd said on his own television show (which I'd watched on occasion but generally with derisive scorn).
What conservatives need is to become fierce, but do so without becoming vicious. Viciousness is driven by hate, and I would posit that hatred is often a harmful emotion and very seldom a useful one. One should be fierce in combatting evil, recognizing it for what it is and despising it, but that does not mean one should hate it and combat it viciously. Letting hatred into one's soul, no matter how justly despised the target of hatred may be, is a recipe for clouded judgement.
Or, to delve into George Lucas babblespeak, hate stems solely from the Dark Side of the Force.