As John McCain’s chances to become president fade by the day, his most fervent supporters are becoming more and more angry. Fueled by the rhetoric of his running mate and the rabid dogs of conservative talk radio, a new narrative is being forged.

Obama is a terrorist, an Arab and a guy who pals around with bin Laden. If he becomes president, the most extreme of them say, America will be destroyed and anarchy will prevail.

I know what it feels like to be upset when your candidate loses. I wanted to take a baseball bat to all of the car windows with “W” stickers on them after the fraudulent election of 2004. But I didn’t. Instead, I sat by and watched as the economy was pillaged and our country went to hell.

But conservatives are different than the rest of us. They see conspiracies at every turn. They demonize their opponents and, now, as the election appears to be slipping away, they’re starting to play the race card.

This is dangerous turf. When the framework of conversation ceases being about issues or character and takes the turn into hate speech, unpredictable things can happen, none of them good.

Don’t just take my word for it. Listen to the words of Congressman John Lewis of Georgia, whose personal courage and service to the country equal or exceeds that of Sen. McCain’s.

Lewis was a champion of the civil rights movement. Beaten mercilessly by racist cops during the Battle of Selma, he was a close friend of both Dr. King and Bobby Kennedy and was present at most of the major events of the 1960s. His life has been dedicated to peaceful change.

After seeing hate-filled supporters of McCain on TV, and listening to Sarah Palin’s fiery, untruthful rhetoric, Lewis spoke out.

He said, “As public figures with the power to influence and persuade, Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin are playing with fire, and if they are not careful, that fire will consume us all. They are playing a very dangerous game that disregards the value of the political process and cheapens our entire democracy. We can do better. The American people deserve better.”

It was that fire he spoke of that took the life of Dr. King. It was right-wing extremism and violence-filled speech that eventually caused a nut from the left, Lee Harvey Oswald, to fire his rifle at JFK.

It revives the fear many of us have that a similarly unhinged person will become so worked up by the words of the right-wing extremists and endanger the safety of Sen. Obama.

McCain, a true patriot, has been trying to ratchet down the tone of late, but Gov. Palin continues unabated, tossing out any unsubstantiated charge she can, caring not about the consequences.

And conservative talk radio, unburdened by any sense of fairness, decency or accuracy, is stoking the flames of hatred against Sen. Obama.

I buy worthless old political paraphernalia off Ebay when I have a buck or two to spare. My latest purchase, for 99 cents, was the Dec. 2, 1963 issue of Newsweek, a tribute to JFK.

There, among the electric-typewriter and bourbon ads, was a column that could have been written today if you substitute the word “Obama” for “Kennedy.”

The magazine’s Kenneth Crawford wrote of JFK, “He infuriated the right people. The bigots of race, class and religion were right to hate him. He was against them and everything their little souls yearned for… Mr. Kennedy was only an attractive and highly successful politician until he inspired the gnawing resentment that martyred him. He became eligible for the company of the great when the haters started doing to him what they had done to Abraham Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt … To worshipers of the things-as-they-are and of things-as-they-used-to-be, there is no villainy like innovation.”

The fact that Obama appears more statesmanlike, more presidential and more reasonable than McCain infuriates the conservatives. It eats at their souls. Even if, as now seems likely, Obama wins by a comfortable margin and begins to turn around the country’s fortune, that won’t be enough to calm them down.

In fact, it will only make them angrier. And it will only take one of them to lash out and do something destructive against President Obama.

McCain knows this and will do his patriotic duty if he loses. I have faith in him to do the right things to tone down these fires of hatred. I pray his fellow conservatives will listen.