FAIR was on it before his confirmation.
Josh cuts off the first line of the quote, which is important. [oops, either I'm blind or after I posted this Marshall added a bit more of the interview to his post ] Here's a full version:
" Your magazine also helps set the record straight. You've got a heritage of doing that, of defending Southern patriots like [Robert E.] Lee, [Stonewall] Jackson and [Confederate President Jefferson] Davis. Traditionalists must do more. I've got to do more. We've all got to stand up and speak in this respect, or else we'll be taught that these people were giving their lives, subscribing their sacred fortunes and their honor to some perverted agenda."
(emphasis mine)
And, here are some examples of how the magazine sets the record straight:
On John Wilkes Booth: "His behavior was not only sane, but sensible. His background, loyalties, beliefs, and experiences had led him to that end."
--Mark Brewer, Second Quarter/1990
For years Southern Partisan has celebrated the murder of Abraham Lincoln by selling T-shirts with Lincoln's image over the words "sic semper tyrannis" ("thus always to tyrants")-- John Wilkes Booth's cry just after shooting Lincoln. Timothy McVeigh was wearing this T-shirt when he was arrested for the Oklahoma City bombing. (To see a photo of the shirt, click here.)
New York Times, 6/3/1997
Feminism is a "revolt against god."
--First Quarter/2000
"Feminists, ethnic minorities, sodomites and other 'victims' of majority culture are demanding special recognition and privileged status."
--Second Quarter/1992
"The acts of sodomy are probably the most repulsive desecrations in the sexual order.... The terrible swift sword of the dread AIDS disease is surely what in other ages would be acknowledged a sign of God's wrath. It is only the least subtle notice of divine displeasure with the swinishness of our age."
--Reid Buckley, Winter/1986
"Newly arrived in New York City, I puzzled, 'Where are the Americans?' for I met only Italians, Jews, Puerto Ricans."
--Patrick Brophy, Second Quarter/1991
"The tides of immigration turned negative: were characterized by the losers of political history...the Italians and the Irish... the dull-spirited and pagan, such as the Scandinavians... and by peoples to whom the tenets of our republic were altogether alien, such as the hieratic Jews....
"Negroes, Asians and Orientals (is Japan the exception?); Hispanics, Latins and Eastern Europeans; have no temperament for democracy, never had, and probably never will...
"As the genetic racial pool in the United States from which the democratic government originally derived is dissipated in successive tides of immigration, our country is being overwhelmed."
--Reid Buckley, Summer/1984
there's more at the link.
We sure heard about this stuff from the liberal media didn't we. Here's how Ashcroft dealt with these questions at his hearings:
Given several chances to explicitly distance himself from Southern Partisan, Ashcroft declined, saying carefully, "I condemn those things which are condemnable." When asked directly whether he thought the magazine was racist, he said, "I should probably do more due diligence on it. I know they've been accused of being racist.... I would rather be falsely accused of being a racist than to falsely accuse someone of being a racist."
Biden suggested that Ashcroft must have been briefed on the content of the magazine for the confirmation hearings, given that his association with it was an obvious topic to come up. Ashcroft responded, "I don't want to be disrespectful, but for you to suggest that I was told that all these things that you've alleged are true, I wasn't told that. And, frankly, I have been told that some of them aren't true.... And I don't know the source of your things."