I never believed the post racial narrative of 2008, but I didn’t expect the venom of  the Tea Party and their hideously racist signs.I consoled myself with the fact that this kind of virulent racism is largely confined to older white voters and that in 20 years (or less) this ugliness will pass. (Unfortunately, I probably won't be around to see it.)

However the 2012 election has made it painfully clear that this is not just  a problem of overt Tea Party racism.  Something else is going on.  According to an  Associate Press poll: