So I just read this appalling statement by McCain's spokesbigot, Brian Rogers.

Barack Obama's attacks on Americans who support John McCain reveal far more about him than they do about John McCain. It is clear that Barack Obama just doesn't understand regular people and the issues they care about. He dismisses hardworking middle class Americans as clinging to guns and religion, while at the same time attacking average Americans at McCain rallies who are angry at Washington, Wall Street and the status quo. Even worse, he attacks anyone who dares to question his readiness to serve as their commander in chief in chief. Raising legitimate questions about record, character and judgment are a vital part of the Democratic process, and Barack Obama's effort to silence and shame those who seek answers should make everyone wonder exactly what he is hiding.

This is what they think are "regular people" then? Bigots and small minded fools who are whipped up into a hate frenzy - these are McCain's people. People who think Obama is a terrorist because of his name? His name alone? Or is that code for "He's black!" People who respond to lies and insinuations with the rabid enthusiasm of a pack of pirhanna. Their message has nothing to do with hope, with a future. How pathetically easy it is for them to manipulated and turned away from their own self interests. How utterly tragic.

So it's no wonder that McCain is losing. If this is his idea of the "average" American, he's more hateful and self-deluded that even I thought, and I thought he was over-the-top self-deluded. In fact, he is truly a prisoner of his own fear - fear of Obama, fear of losing, fear of his own inadequacies - who knows, perhaps even fear of death. The one he should really fear is Palin, but he hasn't figured that out yet.

To me, the "average" American is decent. He or she is worried about issues like their homes, their retirement, their future and the future of their children. They are worried about war and being safe and putting food on the table and being able to keep the life that America seemed to promise them, a life that has been slowly slipping away under the weight of George Bush's eight years of misrule, and is in danger of collapsing now.

They are decent folks, as Obama would say, and they aren't the misguided, xenophobic and tragically misinformed people McCain has now discoverered. If George Bush's "base" was the "haves and the have mores," then it appears that McCain/Palin have discovered another base of bigots and angry pawns in a much larger, and intensely dangerous game.

What do we do about this?

If these abusers refused to stop abusing, can we somehow start a movement to stop them?

Can we institude a sedition lawsuit on behalf of the American people?

Can we start a letter-writing campaign to every newspaper in America.

Can we flood the talk radio shows?

It's got to be time for us "average" Americans who aren't full of hate, prejudice and disinformation to find our voice and to make it loud and clear. Hate is not the answer.

To me, hate is fear. Hate is pain. To me, only love, hope and knowledge can overcome hate.

Can we spread the word?