There’s something about this election that invites hyperbole. But to call what we’re doing today the moment of truth may not be much of a hyperbolic stretch. I’m not really referring to the result of the election, per se. But rather, to what the result will tell us about ourselves as a country.

By the end of the night, we’ll know what we chose: to save America from a fate worse than death or to celebrate in deeds the just-below-the-skin racism that we were not willing to express in words (or not to pollsters, at least).

Because at this point, with the polls saying what they are, one thing is abundantly clear. Not all the Republican skulduggery in the world is going to be able to pull this one out for McCain. The only thing that would is if Palin‘s real Americans vote their racism in large swathes of the country.

McCain and Palin — to their eternal damnation, it is to be hoped — have been as shameless and blatant in their appeals to racism as they have been about every other vile and contemptible aspect of their campaign. They’ve pushed those buttons often, and they’ve pushed those buttons hard.

So at this stage, we know pretty well who McCain and Palin are as human beings. And now we’re going to find out who we are as a country. Let’s hope the self-knowledge is something that we can live with.