After another round of less-than-forthcoming testimony to Congress, the best that can be said about Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is that he is incompetent. The worst is that he has intentionally misled Congress. Either way, it is past time for Republican senators, Maine’s included, to let the president know that Mr. Gonzales’s continued tenure is damaging the administration and its ability to uphold and enforce the law.

Called before the Senate Judiciary Committee to again testify about the White House’s domestic spying program, Mr. Gonzales stuck to his story that there was no serious dissent in the administration about the program. This despite the dramatic testimony in May of James Comey, a former deputy attorney general. He told lawmakers that Mr. Gonzales, then White House counsel, and former White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card went to the hospital room of then-Attorney General John Ashcroft in 2004. Mr. Ashcroft was gravely ill in an intensive care unit and had handed over leadership of the Justice Department to Mr. Comey. He said Mr. Gonzales and Mr. Card talked to Mr. Ashcroft about the wiretapping program, which needed approval to continue. Mr. Comey said Mr. Ashcroft forcefully refused to sign off on the program.

Mr. Comey and FBI Director Robert Mueller were then summoned to the White House, where he said the two men were ready to resign. Instead, President Bush intervened and changes were made to the program.

Yet, last week, Mr. Gonzales continued to assert that there was no serious disagreement over the wiretapping program, saying the debate was over another program that he refused to identify. The White House press office later said the attorney general had to be careful in his testimony not to reveal secret information. This is a weak excuse because Mr. Gonzales certainly could have asked lawmakers to meet in a closed session to discuss classified matters.

Worse, Mr. Mueller last week also testified that the wiretapping was a topic of fierce debate among administration officials and that it was what prompted Mr. Gonzales to come to Mr. Ashcroft’s hospital bedside.

This comes after Mr. Gonzales contradictory statements about the firings of nine U.S. attorneys. Mr. Gonzales initially said politics did not play a role in the firings, but later said he did not remember details of his involvement in their dismissal, although written materials show he was repeatedly briefed on it.

If Mr. Gonzales can’t remember important details and gets programs confused, he should not be in charge of the country’s highest law enforcement agency. The same is true if he willfully lies about such things.

The problem is summed up well by Stephen Gillers, a professor of legal ethics at the New York University School of Law. He told the Washington Post Mr. Gonzales’ strengths “may lie elsewhere, but they are not in management.”

Being unable to manage the department he is in charge of is a strong reason for Congress to urge that he be dismissed.