John McCain and George W. Bush, who agree about virtually nothing, agree about Charles Colson.

In his speech lambasting Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, and the “agents of intolerance,” McCain singled out Colson for praise, complimenting the Watergate felon for his prison ministry. Bush, meanwhile, has given Colson a Texas prison wing to run on Christian principles. The Inner Change program is the show horse of Bush’s faith-based initiatives.

Colson is increasingly beloved outside the GOP, too. When the New York Times needed an op-ed about the Republican religious war, they turned to Colson, who high-mindedly deplored efforts to divide evangelical Protestants and Catholics.

Colson’s sanctification caps one of the most extraordinary redemptions in recent history. Colson doesn’t like to talk about his Watergate villainy. He calls himself a “sinner” and demurs, “I was a part of Watergate.”

He has good reason to be cagey. As special counsel to the president, he was Richard Nixon’s hard man, the “evil genius” of an evil administration. According to Watergate historian Stanley Kutler, Colson sought to hire Teamsters thugs to beat up anti-war demonstrators, and he plotted to raid or firebomb the Brookings Institution.

He eventually pleaded guilty to scheming to defame Daniel Ellsberg and interfering with his trial. In 1974, Colson served seven months in federal prison.

Colson had found Christ before he went to jail. (Democratic Washington, of course, considered his conversion a joke.) Prison cemented his faith. When he was released, he wrote the mega-best-seller Born Again and used the royalties to start Prison Fellowship Ministries.

Prison Fellowship’s purpose is to save convicts’ souls and help them turn around their lives. (Colson once said he would trample his own grandmother to get Nixon re-elected. Now he would run her down to bring someone to Jesus.) Colson has given his life to the cause, visiting the bleakest prisons to preach the gospel.

Read More: http://www.slate.com/id/77067/