Is It Really Surprising?

Barack Obama elected president.
Anti-Immigrant paranoia.
Sharp Economic downturn.

Result:

The Southern Poverty Law Center's "Intelligence Report: the Year in Hate" notes a fairly sharp rise in hate groups who insist that minority lenders are responsible for the economic meltdown, immigrants for the employment meltdown, and Barack Obama for, well, whatever else there is. Or everything in general.

The good news is that these groups only represent a minuscule segment of America's population. They might be loud, but they're readily dismissed by the vast majority of folks.