His testimony about the firings of several U.S. attorneys was contradicted at least three times during congressional hearings — once by Gonzales himself.

This was the most avoidable controversy, because the president has every right to fire federal prosecutors. But Gonzales kept changing his story and dodging direct questions, giving his critics the rope to hang him.

In testimony before Congress, Gonzales answered "I don't know" and "I can't recall" scores of times, and even some Republicans said his testimony was evasive.

True to form, Bush praised Gonzales' performance and said the attorney general was "honest" and "honorable."

"Honest" was not a word many lawmakers would use to describe Gonzales' testimony.

"Alberto Gonzales is the first attorney general who thought the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth were three different things," said Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill.

Earlier this month, the president grew irritated when asked about accountability in his administration.

"Implicit in your questions is that Al Gonzales did something wrong," Bush replied testily at a news conference. "I haven't seen Congress say he's done anything wrong."

Actually, many in Congress had accused Gonzales of wrongdoing. But the president was not listening to anybody who called Gonzales a hack or crony.

"I think the president overlooked what appears to have been malfeasance and, at least as I read the record, perhaps as much as perjury before Congress," said Marc Kruman, a history professor and director of the Center for the Study of Citizenship at Wayne State University in Detroit.

Bush is not the first president to fall into the crony trap.

"The danger of bringing in a crony is that you will overlook malfeasance and corruption," Kruman said. "The benefits are that you will have someone you can trust in an extremely sensitive position."

As always, Washington politicians will momentarily swear off cronyism until they want their backs covered by a brother, a spouse or a pal.

Sen. Arlen Specter, the ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee, urged Bush to pick a current or former senator to replace Gonzales.

"That's always a big help" Specter said, "if you know the person."

Actually, knowing the person too well can be a big problem.