Lou Cannon, author of five books about Ronald Reagan, defends the Gipper in his Sunday New York Times op-ed "Reagan’s Southern Stumble." He starts with an easily upended straw man, the "the notion that Mr. Reagan defeated President Jimmy Carter in 1980 by a coded appeal to white-supremacist voters."

But few Democrats would say that was the primary reason Reagan won the Presidency in 1980, and not mention the hostage crisis in Iran, hyper-inflation and other critical issues of the time as key factors.

However, that doesn't mean Reagan didn't try to exploit racial prejudice when he launched his campaign in 1980 in Philadelphia Mississippi, where civil rights workers James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner were murdered by racists. Cannon, like Brooks before him, doesn't make a very convincing case that Reagan's remarks on that day had nothing to do with race.

The Brooks and Cannon argument about Reagan's Neshoba County Fair speech is hard to believe, given his awful record on racial issues, most importantly his opposition to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and California's fair housing law. The '64 bill made it possible for African Americans to use public accommodations and facilities and the '65 legislation opened the door to political participation for millions of Black people. Reagan's shameful opposition to these bills, both now considered historic landmarks in the growth of American democracy, is not something that should be ignored, lightly dismissed or glossed over.

In 1966, Reagan ran for California Governor saying he would fight to repeal that state's fair housing law, arguing that "If an individual wants to discriminate against Negroes or others in selling or renting his house, he has a right to do so." In 1986 he vetoed anti-apartheid legislation.

Cannon cites a story about Reagan's personal act of kindness toward some back teammates in college and his support for integrating professional baseball when Reagan was a sports announcer in making a distinction between Reagan's policies and personal attitudes on race. Cannon notes, parenthetically,

(Mr. Reagan was understandably anathema in the black community not because of his personal views but because of his consistent opposition to federal civil rights legislation, most notably the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965.)

Parenthetically, like civil rights legislation is not important?

It's a hell of a stretch to credit Reagan even with indifference on issues of racial justice. Whatever he intended to do at the Neshoba County Fair on that day, the record shows that this was a guy who did what he could to obstruct legislative reforms for racial equality. Republican candidates who cite him as a role model and source of inspiration should be called on it -- asked straight out if their admiration for Reagan also includes his policies on racial issues.