Last week I wondered whether an oily substance found on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and reported by wingnuts as anti-war vandalism might have actually been a false-flag operation intended to stir violent outrage at the anti-war activists coming to Washington for a September 15 march.

If so: mission accomplished. The pro-war fascists of Gathering of Eagles found a father of a fallen Marine to beat up along the route: Carlos Arredondo, who marches in anti-war demonstrations pulling a flag-draped coffin adorned with a picture of his son. Here’s one account:

As Carlos passed counter protesters, one man ripped a picture of Alex from the memorial. Carlos leaped on the man to retrieve the picture. It was at that point that approximately five others all began to attack Carlos by kicking him in the head, legs, stomach and back.

The Capitol police bicycle patrol then appeared to break up the fight. Several officers including a female officer were engaged in breaking up the fight and were able to stop any further injuries from occurring. Hannah Jones who was walking with Carlos was also assaulted.

A bystander named Ramesh witnessed the whole encounter and also retrieved the picture of Alex for Carlos. He was quite distressed at how he watched the men follow Carlos as he pulled the memorial, purposefully yelling epiphets and eventually taking Alex’s photograph. Soon, an ambulance showed up as well as many concerned activists. The paramedics provided first aid to Carlos but he did not seek further medical attention. Carlos sustained bloody cuts on his shins. He also reported bruises all over his torso and head where he was kicked.

And here’s what one of the perpetrators has to say about it. He clearly believes himself a hero: the fallen Marine, after all, was “being held hostage in company not of his own choosing.” Well, yes, none of us get to choose our own parents. But these parents “immediately and obviously intended” to “disrespect his Corps,” and had to be wailed upon. Their son would have only wanted it that way:

My teams broke up at the Capitol, mission accomplished, and I was walking alone back to the Mall when I saw the photo-image of a proud young Marine in dress blues being held hostage in company not of his own choosing and affixed to a coffin not his own.

The insult to his honor and disrespect to his Corps and cause by his captors was immediately obvious and intended. These same peddlers of provocation are paid to push their coffin-prop all over the country they revile. They subvert a common will and undermine the cause and country for which this hostage-Marine had sacrificed his very life.

The captive Marine was not among his own. He was surrounded and outnumbered by those who shamelessly exploit his image and memory, disgrace his uniform, his brothers in arms, and his willing sacrifice. He would never choose such company. He needed a rescue…

“He needed a rescue.” This remarkable discourse reminds me of the Terry Schiavo case, one of the signal conservative failures of our era, and a crucial window into the deep psychology of the far-right. The lesson is: no family attachment matters when it falls afoul of the cleansing perfections of right-wing ideology. In the Schiavo case wingnut ideology provided a weird psychological defense against the disappointments of our children who fly away and disappoint us; recall that it turned upon an argument that it was really the parents who get to decide everything about their adult children, not the spouses who steal our children away from us. In this case the Freudian issue is rage at the parent. We see a damaged soul beating up someone else’s father for “disrespecting the Corps”: sorry you never got a chance to wail on your own dad for doing you wrong, dude, but it must be fun to get to do it symbolically, and with such self-exculpatory glee to boot.

How I tire of conservatives working out their psychopathologies in the public square.