Fox News host Geraldo Rivera on Monday criticized the power that conservative radio show hosts wielded over the Republican Party.

On HuffPost Live, Rivera described those who listened to conservative hosts like Rush Limbaugh as “absolutists” who were fond of the 1950s. He said Republicans could never hope to regain the White House if they pandered to such demographics, who were stubbornly opposed to immigration reform and same-sex marriage.

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“I think talk radio has driven the platform drafters in the GOP for at least the last several election cycles,” Rivera continued.

Rivera warned right wing radio had “helped cripple the GOP” through its influence on the party. He said Mitt Romney was defeated “right out of the gate” because of the conservative party platform that Republicans approved in 2012.

“They codified, in terms of their language, his whole notion of making conditions so wretched for immigrants that they would self-deport, they stood against gay marriage despite the tide of history sweeping in the opposite direction, they made no exceptions in terms of abortion,” Rivera added.

“Those are crazy positions to have in this day and age.”

Watch video, courtesy of The Huffington Post, below: