I don't think "Tea Party conservatives are prejudiced against the Middle Eastern Muslims".

I think the TParty, and those who pander to them and think like them, see Muslim Jihadists as a highly dangerous and potentially violent group that allows them to be prejudiced and bigoted without the risk of being called out for being racist. Essentially, they're saying, "See, its OK to hate these people because they flew airliners into our office buildings. You don't have to apologize for your hate, you can be self-righteous about your desire for vengeance, it is OK to let your religious and racial superstitions be displayed openly because now you can say they are really a form of patriotism."

This fear of the Other, the Alien, the Outsider has always been how the Right has mobilized the fear and prejudice of its supporters to get them behind their political and economic agenda.

For Conservatives, racism is not a character flaw or a moral shortcoming. Its a political tool designed to further an economic program. Its important to understand this, because racism is an automatic human defect, a mistaken but expected relic of our ancient tribal past, perhaps even of our reptilian ancestry. The use of racism as a rhetorical and motivational technique is much worse, it reveals a deliberate, conscious and intellectual effort to weaponize this poison for personal gain and power. Focussing its toxins on a narrowly defined ethnic group allows the targeting of one particular and specific enemy with great power and effectiveness, while simultaneously ignoring its association with a human shortcoming that has become increasingly deprecated by civilized society.

These guys aren't just mean, they're smart, too.