Come on, already.

The back and forth over Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is just plain embarrassing. In a move straight out of the playground game, Red Rover, Republicans locked arms to block the Senate's no-confidence vote. Granted, this is political theater by Democrats as well as Republicans, but whom do they think they're kidding?

Arlen Specter, the senior Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, voted to move the resolution forward, saying, "There is no confidence in the attorney general on this side of the aisle." At least five other GOP senators have called for his resignation, and more have said that they have lost confidence in him.

Now the sudden change of heart? Please.

Gonzales arrogantly claimed that he wasn't listening to "the rhetoric" and that he's going to be "focusing on what the American people expect of the attorney general of the United States and this great Department of Justice."

That's nice to know. If he's genuinely "focused" on the American people, maybe this will help:

Americans want an attorney general they can trust to carry out the rule of law, free of political pressure. Americans want an attorney general who, when called upon to tell the truth, doesn't claim repeatedly that he can't recall the facts.

Senate Republicans may have blocked the vote, but it's clear that Gonzales has lost the confidence of both parties and the American people a long time ago.

It's time to resign. Period.