With the emergence of news reports as early as last Friday that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was apparently more involved in the firing of eight U.S. attorneys than his public statements have indicated, two unfortunate possibilities arise: Either the Attorney General is so incompetent that he did not remember the meeting (10 days prior to the firings) or he has been less than candid about his involvement.

In either case, the credibility of Alberto Gonzales is in freefall.
He cannot continue to competently function as Attorney General if those who must have confidence in him have little confidence in his credibility or integrity.

President Bush apparently will not even entertain the notion of asking Gonzales to resign. Republicans in Congress understandably have little incentive to rush to the assistance of Gonzales, after defending Donald Rumsfeld for so long, only to have the rug pulled out from under them when the President - similarly sticking with Rumsfeld for so long - abruptly fired Rumsfeld the day after the disastrous elections of last November. Congressional Republicans cannot put their own credibility on the line again for Gonzales, not knowing whether the President would again leave them out in the cold. But the main cause for a lack of congressional support is the incompetence, and the now apparent less than full candor of, Alberto Gonzales in creating this unnecessary fiasco. A more competent Attorney General would simply not have allowed the situation to develop into the scandal that it has.

If the President will not ask for the resignation of Alberto Gonzales then Gonzales should do the President a favor and submit his resignation without delay.