WASHINGTON – The nation’s top lawman should ride off into the sunset after a string of embarrassments, Sen. Chuck Schumer said Sunday.

The New York Democrat accused Attorney General Alberto Gonzales of treating the Justice Department as just another political tool to help President Bush.

“For the sake of the nation, I’m asking Attorney General Gonzales to step down,” Schumer said.

Gonzales has taken a whipping from Democrats and some Republicans after his inspector general found last week that the FBI had abused its authority to spy on Americans under the Patriot Act.

That followed a mushrooming controversy over the sudden firings of eight U.S. attorneys, including some involved in politically sensitive probes.

Schumer said Gonzales hasn’t made the mental leap from being the president’s top counsel to being America’s top cop.

“The Justice Department must be above politics,” Schumer said. “Attorney General Gonzales is a nice man, but he doesn’t understand he’s no longer the president’s lawyer.”

Schumer had long been a critic of Gonzales’ predecessor, John Ashcroft, but said Gonzales was worse.

“There has been a continuing pattern of mismanagement and disrespect for the rule of law,” he said.

Other lawmakers, including Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., didn’t go as far Sunday as calling for Gonzales’ dismissal, but agreed he has not been stellar.

“I do think there have been lots of problems,” Specter said on CBS. But he said Gonzales’ continued employment was a “question for the president and the attorney general.”

Bush said Saturday that he still has full confidence in Gonzales and FBI head Robert Mueller.

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AP-NY-03-11-07 2051EDT