Sen. Charles Schumer called on Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to step down today. Sen. Joe Biden hedged his bets and said it's Bush's call but it wouldn't be a bad idea.

I doubt it will happen. He's too entrenched. Then again, it wasn't that long ago that Harriet Miers, another of Bush's long-time, loyal counsel, didn't get confirmed to the Supreme Court.

I think rather than having Gonzales step down now, we should concentrate on electing a Democrat as President in 2008, so that we hopefully can get a less ideological Attorney General in 2009.

However bad Gonzales may be, he's no John Ashcroft. It was Ashcroft, not Gonzales' Justice Department that brought us the Patriot Act, pushed Patriot Act II, the Feeney Amendment, created guidelines for attorney-client monitoring of conversations, demanded the DEA raid medical marijuana clinics in states that had legalized medical use of the substance, and so on and so on.

Gonzales hasn't had that much of an effect on the day to day workings of the criminal justice system, so far as I can tell -- at least not in my cases. The main restrictions we face are those created by Ashcroft -- and Congress' continued willingness to enact mandatory minimum sentences.

There's lots of blame to go around.

Update: If you feel differently, you can join in Big Tent Democrat's series on why Gonzales should be impeached. Philosophically, I agree. As a practical matter, I'd rather invest my time in seeing a Democrat get elected.