Gonzales vs. the People of the United States

10:26 ET:  It didn't take but 20 minutes for Gonzales' voice to show signs of stress.  Behind every response, let's remember, is not only the lying and cover-ups, but the mandate of the White House to refuse Congress any opportunity to behave as though its power is equivalent to that of the executive branch.  Someone needs to pull the mike away from his mouth.  He's a-poppin'.

10:31:  My mistake.  Everyone's a-poppin'.  Maybe it's CSpan.  Maybe it's the miking down on the floor.

10:49:  He's dodging the matter of Biskupic  -- "Forgive me, but..." -- and has been asked to get back to the Committee within a week.  Boo-o-o-o.  Ball tossed back to Kyle Sampson.

10:51:  Please, someone!  Go find Kyle Sampson and haulhisass into the Committee room, give him a mike.  Tell him to talk now. No more of this "next week maybe" stuff...

10:54:  "I'm not resigning even if a week from now the American people still have a 'negative perception' of me."

10:58:  I wonder whether Republicans who agree with many of the Senator Orrin Hatch's beliefs don't also see him as an awful idiot.  If not, how can they miss it?

(Gone fishin'.)

1:47:  The New York Times takes note:

It was clear that, for at least some members of the committee, there was no longer a debate about whether Mr. Gonzales should stay. “It cannot make anyone happy to have to question the credibility and competence of the nation’s chief law enforcement officer,” said Senator Charles E. Schumer, a New York Democrat and one of Mr. Gonzales’s harshest critics. “This is, however, a predicament strictly of the attorney general’s own making.”

“The circumstantial evidence is substantial and growing,” Mr. Schumer said, alluding to allegations of political interference with prosecutions, “and the burden is on the attorney general to refute it.”

The attorney general said each of the eight fired prosecutors is “a fine lawyer and dedicated professional,” and that the dismissals should have been handled more gracefully.

Mr. Gonzales got a friendly reception from Senator Jeff Sessions, Republican of Alabama and a former United States attorney, who urged Mr. Gonzales to be “honest and direct” and predicted that the attorney general’s basic goodness “will show through.”

But, perhaps ominously for Mr. Gonzales, even Mr. Sessions said he thought Mr. Gonzales had been less than candid about his part in the firings, and that the entire affair had hurt the Justice Department.

3:01:  One senator, Republican Senator Coburn, has nailed Gonzales.  First he backs Gonzales into a corner about lousy management and leadership skills.  Then he asks Gonzales why he shouldn't be fired since lousy management and leadership were among the charges aimed at the fired US attorneys.  Gonzales says he'll try better, he plans to get things right.  Coburn counters with the opinion that Gonzales should be taking full responsibility and, effectively, firing himself.

3:04:  Gonzales, now on the floor and bleeding from a dozen wounds, is under attack from Senator Whitehouse who begins by telling the AG that he seems to have no awareness whatsoever of the severe damage he has done to the structures within the Justice Department.  Bim bam.  Shots fired from both parties.  Seems to me only Orrin Hatch, who always sounds slightly nuts, is anything like fully supportive of Gonzales.  As an NPR commenter said later, this is the first on the Republican side to call outright for Gonzales' resignation.

3:57:  I wonder if people at Gonzales' old law firm in Houston are listening to or watching the hearing today.  What are they saying?  Poor Alberto?  Sure doesn't seem fair?  or  Damn! that's our Gonzales -- a smarmy, corrupt and incompetent bastard!

4:38:  Schumer has asked him to resign forthwith, saying that he has not met any of the criteria set forth by the Committee.  Specter tells Gonzales that his credibility is "impaired" but appears to offer more time for Gonzales to "get the answers"  and for the president to decide whether he stays.  Leahy doesn't say "resign" but says, several times and in connection with several issues, that this is "a sad day," the worst time he's seen at Justice.

4:49:  Hearing adjourned.

Summary:  Republicans Jeff Sessions, Lindsey Graham, and John Cornyn (John Cornyn?!) came down on the AG really hard.  Specter was a little more low-key.  Tom Coburn asked him to resign.

NPR's Nina Totenberg, who has some experience as an analyst of the judiciary, DOJ and legal issues, says she'd be very surprised to see Gonzales in the job for much longer.  Leahy, in an interview, is throwing the decision at Bush -- depending on "what kind of justice system he wants.  I don't ever want to see the Justice Department like this again..."  Even if the AG resigns, Leahy will "pursue the investigation" about the politicization of the dismissals-- presumably he means right up to Karl Rove.