Such brave conservatives, waiting until the corpse is bloated before inserting the shiv.

In what could prove an embarrassing new setback for embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on the eve of his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, a group of influential conservatives and longtime Bush supporters has written a letter to the White House to call for his resignation.

The two-page letter, written on stationery of the American Freedom Agenda, a recently formed body designed to promote conservative legal principles, is blunt. Addressed to both Bush and Gonzales, it goes well beyond the U.S. attorneys controversy and details other alleged failings by Gonzales. “Mr. Gonzales has presided over an unprecedented crippling of the Constitution’s time-honored checks and balances,” it declares. “He has brought rule of law into disrepute, and debased honesty as the coin of the realm.” Alluding to ongoing scandal, it notes: “He has engendered the suspicion that partisan politics trumps evenhanded law enforcement in the Department of Justice.”

The letter concludes by saying, “Attorney General Gonzales has proven an unsuitable steward of the law and should resign for the good of the country… The President should accept the resignation, and set a standard to which the wise and honest might repair in nominating a successor…” It is the first public demand by a group of conservatives for Gonzales’ firing.

Um, yeah. Most of us on the left knew Alberto was a disaster before Chimpy made him the AG. Thanks for helping us when it counted, righties.

Oh, and the vast majority of Americans think Bush and Alberto are liars.

Overall, 67 percent in this ABC News/Washington Post poll think the prosecutors were fired mainly for political reasons, not on the basis of their performance. And 58 percent disapprove of how Gonzales has dealt with the issue, while just 24 percent approve. Even in his own party, nearly half of Republicans disapprove.