Uh, mmmm, maybe ...

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales looked like an ineffective, and at times clueless, leader in his testimony before Congress Thursday.

He hemmed. He hawed. He did not recall. He was responding to scathing Senate Judiciary Committee questioning about his role in what has become an imbroglio over the firing of eight U.S. attorneys.

Republican and Democratic senators alike were unsympathetic to his predicament, which includes acknowledging he earlier "misspoke" when he said he was barely involved in the decisions to fire the attorneys, including John McKay in Seattle.

In testimony, he acknowledged he was involved and approved the firings.

This page already has called for the U.S. attorney general to resign. Many others, including Republican and Democratic elected officials, have as well although President Bush remains supportive.

Gonzales himself testified he asks himself every day, "Can I continue to be effective as leader of this department?

"I believe that I can," he said.

McKay was fired in December even though months earlier he received a glowing comprehensive Department of Justice review. Yet, Gonzales testified Thursday, McKay was fired for "serious concerns about his judgment."

Gonzales should go back and watch his testimony. If he applies the same criteria to what he admitted was mishandling of the firings — as Republican Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma suggested — Gonzales would come to a different conclusion about whether he should stay.