AND WHAT'S UP WITH ALBERTO TODAY? STILL HERE??? NOT FOR LONG

Mark Pryor (D-AR) just joined the Republicans to help defeat Harry Reid's binding resolution to start the process of ending the war, so I hate to give him any good press. But earlier today he went after Gonzales so strongly that it marks another highpoint in the effort to clean out the corrupt nest of criminals Bush has installed in the heart our government.

Arkansas Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor bluntly accused Attorney General Alberto Gonzales of lying to the Senate about replacing federal prosecutors with interim appointees and joined calls for Gonzales' resignation Thursday.

"When an attorney general lies to a United States senator, I think it is time for that attorney general to go," Pryor said on the Senate floor.

"He did not only lie to me as a person, but when he lied to me, he lied to the Senate and to the people I represent."

Today the Senate Judiciary Committee authorized the use of subpoenas to five Justice Department officials in the investigation into the dismissals of eight US attorneys.

But they better move fast; Bush seems to be getting ready to shove Gonzales overboard to save Rove. ABC-TV says that among the e-mail exchanges, obtained by the Senate, is one dated January 6, 2005 between then-deputy White House Counsel David Leitch and Gonzales' then Chief of Staff, Kyle Sampson. It shows Rove was already pushing for removal of all 93 U.S. Attorneys in January, 2005. "The e-mails also show that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales discussed the idea of firing the attorneys en masse weeks before he was confirmed as attorney general. The e-mails directly contradict White House assertions that the notion originated with recently departed White House counsel Harriet Miers, and was her idea alone."

Gosh; they've been lying to us? Oh, Ken already covered that yesterday. OK, Ken also went to James Madison High School in Brooklyn, just like Schumer and I, so let's give Schumer a chance today:

"I know, from other sources, that there is an active and avid discussion in the White House whether [Gonzales] should stay or not," adding that "the odds are very high that he will no longer be the attorney general."

Schumer also revealed that the emails leaked today came from a disgruntled Bush administration official. "One of the reasons everything is getting out here is that there are people, particularly in the Justice Department, who have been so disgusted with what’s happening that information is getting out," Schumer said. "And I think the White House and the Justice Department know it’s gonna get out whether they release it or not."

UPDATE: DID YOU GUESS GORDON SMITH WOULD BE THE SECOND REPUBLICAN TO CALL FOR GONZALES' OUSTER?

Gordon must really be scared of Oregon voters. Today he was the only Republican to jump ship on his war-mongering party when he voted to support Harry Reid's S.J. 9 resolution which would have started the process of getting us out of Iraq. And, if that wasn't enough to make him persona non grata at the White House, he then went and called for Bush to fire Gonzales. Two factors may have had some influence on Smith. As Jonathan Singer points out, his approval rating in Oregon shows his re-election is in jeopardy, and the Oregon state senate's anti-escalation resolution passed in committee with a very healthy 6-1 bipartisan vote; it hits the Senate floor for a vote on Monday.