Analysis: Gonzales Endurance Is Baffling

WASHINGTON -- The collapse in confidence in Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is all but total among both Democrats and Republicans. Still, President Bush is standing by his longtime friend from Texas.

Bush is known for his loyalty, but his reluctance to act this time is baffling Washington.

Gonzales has shouldered the brunt of congressional criticism over Bush's warrantless wiretapping program and the Justice Department's firings of U.S. attorneys last year. He now faces calls for a perjury investigation, and Democrats are clamoring for a special prosecutor.

Rank-and-file Republicans are upset by his faltering performance before congressional panels. Conservatives object to his views on affirmative action and abortion.

Even FBI Director Robert Mueller, a Gonzales subordinate, appeared to contradict Gonzales' sworn testimony to senators about a 2004 hospital encounter between Gonzales and then-Attorney General John Ashcroft.

So why is Gonzales still around?

Two personality traits long identified with Bush _ stubbornness and loyalty to those loyal to him _ are clearly factors. Also, Bush's advisers are mindful of the fact that it could be next to impossible to win Senate confirmation this late in his term for any possible replacement.

Also, Gonzales has long served as an enabler for Bush.

Both as White House counsel and now as attorney general, Gonzales has provided a stream of written justifications for Bush's anti-terrorism tactics _ from maintaining the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay to stern treatment of terror suspects and the administration's domestic surveillance program.

"The only person he is responsible to is the president, and the president seems to be standing by him," said Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond. "I don't see much give on either side right now. They seem to be digging in their heels."

Tobias doubts a definitive judicial ruling can resolve a looming constitutional confrontation between the administration and Congress, given the short time left in Bush's term and the law's usual delay.

Gonzales also serves another useful function: as a lightning rod.