(This is a repost from a comment I made earlier, but I've been asked to repost it as a diary)
I'm affraid that the re-thugs are winning the framing battle in this hearing. What we've seen develop here are two camps, the corruption camp and the incompetance camp. Dems are pounding the politization / corruption issue. Re-thugs are pounding the incompetance issue.
My theory is that the GOP knows damn well that Gonzales will have to resign. However, they are using the hearing to frame the resignation as being only because of his incompetence, rather than because he is corrupt. They are basically admitting incompetence, but are trying to deflect the corruption / politization charge.
By pounding repetedly on the incompetance issue, the re-thugs can make it CW that incompetance is the real problem here. They can have their talking heads go out and pound this issue. When he resigns, the corruption issue can then be swept under the rug and Dems can be blamed for playing politics by keeping the issue alive after he is gone.