A 2001 article on pro-confederate cabinet nominees.

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Echoes of slavery as Bush nominees back confederacy To most outsiders, and of course to many Americans too, it seems barely believable that any modern, serious politician in the United States should express a hankering, however obliquely and conditional, for the ideals of the southern confederacy.

Yet incredibly that is the situation which the US senate now faces as it prepares to conduct confirmation hearings for two of George W Bush's cabinet nominees - John Ashcroft of Missouri, the would-be attorney-general, and Gale Norton of Colorado, who has been nominated as interior secretary - both of whom have publicly praised the pro-slavery confederacy.

We are not talking youthful indiscretion here. Mr Ashcroft's praise was offered only two years ago in an extensive interview with a magazine called Southern Partisan. In the course of the interview, Ashcroft said it was important to defend "southern patriots" like Jefferson Davis and Robert E Lee.

"Traditionalists must do more. I've got to do more. We've all got to speak up in this respect, or else we'll be taught that these people were giving their lives, subscribing their sacred fortunes and their honour to some perverted agenda," Ashcroft said.

To many people, the meaning of such words is difficult to misunderstand. Preserving slavery, Ashcroft is implying, is not a perverted agenda.