Welcome to Gonzales Watch - Blawging the Ex-Attorney General

President Bush reaffirmed his support this morning for U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Dancing the Texas Two-Step to “Stand By Your Man,” the President from Texas remains unwaivering in his support for the loyal Texas lawyer.

Unlike the majority of Senate Judiciary Committee members who emerged from Gonzales’ testimony last Thrusday even more vocal about calls for his resignation, Bush stressed that the Attorney General’s testimony “increased my confidence in his ability to do the job.”

Bush remained steadfast in his support, while reminding critics that he would do as he saw fit to keep Gonzales as the country’s top prosecutor. The “Attorney General broke no law, did no wrongdoing,” he told reporters at the White House this morning. “This is an honest, honorable man, in whom I have confidence.”

It’s remarkable that the President’s support for Gonzales has not waivered, despite the Justice Department head’s seemingly selective memory of details that led up to his firing of eight career prosecutors in December.

Yesterday, Sen. Arlen Specter said that it would be “harmful” to both the Justice Department and President Bush if Gonzales remained Attorney General and refused to step down.

The bi-partisan push for Gonzales to step down as U.S. Atorney General continues.  Sen. Arlen Specter said yesterday on Fox News Sunday that if Gonzales remains the country’s top lawyer, there will be continue to be negative consquences for the Deptartment of Justice and career federal prosecutors at the agency.

“I think, no doubt, it is bad for the Department of Justice. It is harmful,” Specter aserted.

The ranking GOP member of the Senate Judiciary Committee advised that he did not feel it was appropriate for him to call for Gonzales to resign over the U.S. Attorney firings scandal.  “However, in the final analysis, ” Specter explained, “there are two people involved in the decision, and that is the attorney general to make it himself, and, if he decides to stay on, for the president.“

The U.S. Attorney General attended the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner Saturday night.

The WaPo’s Amy Argetsinger and Roxanne Roberts noted that Alberto Gonzales and embattled World Bank Secretary Paul Wolfowitz were both “relegated to tables in the Outer Siberia of the ballroom” at the Hilton Washington.