PAGING DR. FREUD

However repellent it is, I guess there's nothing particularly remarkable about hate mail to a congresswoman being in the form of a nasty sex remark accompanied by a prophylactic:

Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minnesota, was one of several members of Congress who reported receiving obscene and threatening letters after voting for the health care reform bill passed by Democrats on Sunday.

... McCollum's spokeswoman Maria Reppas said Thursday that the congresswoman's district office in St. Paul received [a] condom in an envelope dated March 23, along with an anonymous typed letter reading: "Betty McCollum you've been dry f***** by the liberal party."

But this gives me pause:

Her office also reported receiving part of a shredded American flag doused in gasoline and a typed letter addressed to McCollum, Rep. Keith Ellison, Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Sen. Al Franken - all Democrats from Minnesota.

"Each of you receives part of a shredded American flag," the letter read. "It represents Obama and your liberal filth. Open the bag, it's covered in the stench you've brought to our government ... Because of you, we are now a country of dirt, shame, corruption and slime."

A bit obsessed with dirt and bodily excretions, aren't we, pal? Projecting some anxiety outward, perhaps? I mean, obviously it's easier not to acknowledge the humanity of your enemies when you think they're literally putrescence, but this seems like a problem you have with self-regard as much as regard of others, don't you think?

*****

(Oh, and I guess we're not going to be seeing any grandstanding calls from the GOP for a flag desecration amendment anytime in this election cycle -- not when it's right-wingers who are repulsed by the flag....)