Is Gonzo Gone-zo?

It's one thing to lie and obstruct over arcane matters of law. It's also one thing to exhibit the memory of a six-year old. It's entirely another thing, however, to perjure oneself over an issue so thoroughly vetted as Alberto Gonzales' bedside visit to then Attorney General John Ashcroft's hospital room. No fewer than three Congress-people and the director of the FBI have directly refuted Gonzo's testimony: that the visit didn't involve the Bush administration's illegal domestic wiretap program.

Yet there he was, before Congress, lying as if to lie comes to him as naturally as breathing. I know the concept of loyalty is of tantamount importance to this bunch (indeed, this obsession with loyalty is almost Mafia-like), but what did Gonzales hope to gain by repeatedly lying through his teeth? Is he just trying to stall Congress? Is there any real purpose for such an obvious legal transgression by the person who is supposed to be the nation's first arbiter of its laws?

I do know this: every minute this man stays in office just allows the Democrats to stick another needle in their George Bush voodoo doll, and Bush, despite his insane vow of loyalty to this toady, has to be squealing in pain at this point. Look for Gonzo to take a hike sometime before Congress comes back in September. Then he'll just hope we all forget about the sorry spectacle of the nation's leading law enforcement official behaving like an unrepentant, arrogant scofflaw. If not, Gonzo could be doing time at a minimum-security country club in the not-too-distant future, at least until Bush pardons him.