Ashcroft ate their lunch.
When he held up the al queda training manual, it was like throwing a hand grenade in Senator Leaky's lap.
Even Ted Kennedy was trying to slide under the table.
"The Nation" is America's version of "Pravda", except Pravda is probably more favorably disposed to capitalism and democracy now than "The Nation" is. The only surprise here is that the writer did not claim that Ashcroft was humiliated and that the right-leaning American press (or the left-leaning American press intimidated by the government, or whatever) is keeping the facts of Ashcroft's defeat from the American public.