Death by leak. Only a total traitor or someone throwing the Judge overboard would let these explosive words get out:

At a recent "prep" for a prospective Sunday talk-show interview, Gonzales's performance was so poor that top aides scrapped any live appearances. During the March 23 session in the A.G.'s conference room, Gonzales was grilled by a team of top aides and advisers—including former Republican National Committee chair Ed Gillespie and former White House lawyer Tim Flanigan—about what he knew about the plan to fire seven U.S. attorneys last fall. But Gonzales kept contradicting himself and "getting his timeline confused," said one participant who asked not to be identified talking about a private meeting. His advisers finally got "exasperated" with him, the source added. "He's not ready," Tasia Scolinos, Gonzales's public-affairs chief, told the A.G.'s top aides after the session was over, said the source. Asked for comment, Scolinos told NEWSWEEK: "This was the first session of this kind that we'd done."

Holy crap.  Who leaked this?

Or it could be the old Rove game--lower expectations so low that a middling performance buoys the coverage. The problem is that this isn't a debate. News editors will choose which parts of the Gonzales testimony will get on the evening news. And with Bush's popularity levels near historic lows for any president, the money call in news is that scandals sell papers, especially where hated men are at their core. Don't look for the Judge's soon-to-be selfless falling on his sword to abate the pressure.