With huge crowds of veterans showing up in Washington D.C. to protest the Obama administration’s vindictive closure of war memorials, the media focused in on the apparent ringleader of all conservatism: one protester carrying a Confederate flag. That flag launched huge swaths of the media infrastructure into paroxysms of pleasure/faux outrage:

Racism comes out of closet (as if it were ever in) as protesters hoist Confederate flag outside WH today.

— Roger Simon (@politicoroger) October 13, 2013

Raising the Confederate flag outside the White House seems like a compromise-oriented move. pic.twitter.com/pvU8QqRvZV

— Jeffrey Goldberg (@JeffreyGoldberg) October 13, 2013

The presence of a Confederate flag at WHouse protest is a good time to remind you to read @zackbeauchamp: http://t.co/JgVuERf5NZ #shutdown

— Emily L. Hauser (@emilylhauser) October 13, 2013

I know, I'm always bringing race into everything, but I didn't bring the Confederate flag to the White House: pic.twitter.com/avXiBME6Xd

— Joan Walsh (@joanwalsh) October 13, 2013

Pro tip: If you want to express your love of US Army & its monuments … leave the Confederate flag at home. pic.twitter.com/dyByu9av51

— davidfrum (@davidfrum) October 13, 2013

Shocked, SHOCKED I tell you, to see a Confederate flag in this picture. pic.twitter.com/9xOuD8ed1R

— Jesse Berney (@jesseberney) October 13, 2013

To recap: House Rs believe optics of a protest that includes confederate flags at WH inhabited by 1st black president is a "game-changer?"

— Meredith Shiner (@meredithshiner) October 13, 2013