by Nicholas Confessore

About the author: Nicholas Confessore is the senior correspondent for the American Prospect, a biweekly liberal journal of opinion.

It wasn’t surprising that during the [2001] fight over [Republican] John Ashcroft’s nomination for attorney general, one side seemed especially eager to discuss his putative racism while the other side eschewed the matter. But it was surprising that his defenders were the eager ones. “I have never known John Ashcroft to be a racist,” proclaimed Oklahoma Representative J.C. Watts, who testified on Ashcroft’s behalf. “It is not pleasant for me to hear terms such as racism applied to you,” sniffed Bob Smith, sometime-Republican senator of New Hampshire, with a nod to his old colleague. “Branding a good man with the ugly slur...