Business as Usual for Alberto Gonzales

May 1, 2007 — -- He's been lambasted over the controversial firings of eight U.S. attorneys last year and heckled for the "I don't recall" responses he gave when testifying before Congress. Many in Washington had been predicting that he would have been run out of town by now. Not so fast. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is standing firm.

In the weeks since his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee about the firings, Gonzales has been trying to show it's business as usual at the Justice Department.

Gonzales has held a press conference on combating identity theft, participated in a photo-op with Mexico's attorney general, and this week is traveling to Indiana and Oklahoma to discuss issues raised by the deadly shootings at Virginia Tech.

"I think it couldn't be more obvious. He's maintaining a higher profile than during his entire time in Washington to show that he's not wounded by continuing fallout from the scandal," Norm Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute told ABC News.

"He's hoping that eventually, people will tire from the deathwatch."

But some members of Congress aren't ready to let that happen just yet. Critics have shouted from the top of Capitol Hill that Gonzales should step down -- and the calls aren't all from Democrats. Broad support from Republicans has been noticeably absent.

Loyal Republican Sen.Tom Coburn of Oklahoma blasted Gonzales during his testimony last month, charging that the attorney general bungled the firings and should accept the consequences that come with accepting responsibility for the errors.

"It was handled incompetently. The communication was atrocious. It was inconsistent," said Coburn. "It's generous to say that there were misstatements. That's a generous statement. And I believe you ought to suffer the consequences that these others [the U.S. attorneys] have suffered."

Coburn added: "And I believe that the best way to put this behind us is your resignation."

Gonzales' testimony -- peppered with "I don't recall" responses -- ultimately became comic fodder.