Attorney General Alberto Gonzales (sort of) admitted at a news conference today that mistakes were made in the undo dismissals of several federal prosecutors.

Democrats are examining e-mails they say prove the White House was far more involved in the firings than it has acknowledged, and many are calling on Gonzales to resign as a result.

The Attorney General is the latest prominent Bush Administration official (Donald Rumsfeld, Scooter Libby, even Vice President Dick Cheney) to be mired in a storm of controversy.

E-mails exchanged between the Department of Justice and the White House were handed over Tuesday to congressional committees investigating the firing of eight U.S. attorneys. The results of that investigation could yield considerable fallout in the DOJ.

For now, here’s a brief recap of what’s transpired at his press conference:

– Gonzales concedes that “mistakes were made” and that “the responsibility” lies on him - yet effectively states he will not accept responsibility for his own actions or those who work under him. In other words, tough $h!t.

– After a tough question was posed - “How is it possible that your chief of staff was consulting with the White House and crafting a list of U.S. Attorneys to be fired and you not know about it - Gonzales does everything but physically duck for cover, offering up a softball answer. Something about having a lot of employees. Press Corps 1, Alberto 0.

– The Attorney General states that he believes that the mistake made was that information was not shared with Congress, completely neglecting to mention the fact that…

• There was ample partisan pressure put on U.S. Attorneys.
• These prosecutors were fired for those political and partisan reasons.

Later, when fielding follow up question, Gonzales continues to assert that this was a problem of communication, not corruption, and that he stands by his decision. In a word, weak. All we can say is that the more George W. Bush cronies go down, the better our candidates look.

For a full transcript of Gonzales’ answer, visit the Washington Post.