Why would Pres. Bush bother with watching his attorney general’s testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee? He doesn’t care what the Senate thinks, including GOP apostates like Arlen Specter, the McCainite Lindsey Graham and now Tom Coburn, the most rightwing member of the body, who challeged Gonzales:

[REPORTER]: Dana, does Attorney General Gonzales’s testimony on Capitol Hill have any bearing whatsoever on his job status?

[WHITE HOUSE SPOKESPERSON DANA PERINO]: As I’ve said many times, the President has full confidence in the Attorney General. The Attorney General looked forward to the hearing that is taking place right now. Of course, the President has not seen any of that testimony. As I told you, he’s had a busy morning, and now we’re on our way to Tipp City, Ohio. And I haven’t seen any of the testimony, either. But clearly, we would hope that there were no preconceived notions, or canned talking points that the senators had in mind before they had this hearing. They said they wanted to get to the facts, and I’m sure that the Attorney General will be fully responsive to their request.

[REPORTER]: So is it fair to say that no matter what the testimony, no matter what the back-and-forth, that the President plans to stick with Attorney General Gonzales?

MS. PERINO: I think — yes. I think the President has full confidence in the Attorney General and whenever that changes for any public servant, we’ll let you know, and I see no indication of that.

There you have it. Even if they had caught Gonzales in a lie, Bush would still support him.