Joe Plumber/Sixpack needs someone to blame for the crap going on in the country. We were told if we just work hard we can have a better life than our parents, and now that's falling apart, and the real reasons for it are complex and not amenable to soundbite treatment. What to do? What to do?

Cast around for a scapegoat. Comparisons to the Jews of 1930s Europe is very apt. It has to be someone's fault. For a bit there, the illegal immigrants of Arizona (is that a name for a rock group, or what?) took the heat off the Muslims, but now the eye of the irrational has swung back to the Muslims -- in part, alas, because of the non-ground zero non-mosque. And since there was intense hatred of Muslims just following 9/11 (mosques were bombed, IIRC -- a friend volunteered to walk little Muslim kids to school because people --grownup people-- were throwing things at them!), returning to reviling Muslims feels like coming home.

By the way, "cast around for a scapegoat" well describes some of the behaviour of the anti-religious on this thread, although their scapegoat is somewhat broader than just Muslims.