Not really surprising to me. Bush is really big on protocol and formality and always has been. It's important to him that he be seen as honest and trustworthy on personal matters. That's why the Isaac Toussie pardon got retracted--Bush didn't want a mini-Marc Rich pardon scandal of his own. I'm not saying this as a blanket compliment, as Bush has often been far less scrupulous about telling the truth to the American people (for fear of ruining morale, as crazy as it sounds), but he's not the guy who gets caught with his hand in the cookie jar. I guess that's something in his favor.
I was also unsurprised that he commuted the border agents' sentences. Okay, well a little surprised. All things being equal he wouldn't have done it, I believe. Bush seems to truly believe that the GOP should be more moderate on immigration, and doing something granting clemency to two ICE guys who shot an unarmed man and tried to cover it up doesn't really grease the skids for that. But Bush is in full legacy mode, and not clearing those guys would be a sour note to end his presidency, at least for the Lou Dobbs crowd. I personally find it ironic: the self-styled "law and order" party doesn't seem to care all that much about the rule of law when it comes to their friends like Scooter Libby. Then again, they didn't care about it when conducting the War on Terror, despite the fact that we've faced far more formidable foes in the past that could literally have annhilated this country. This is a group that treats Ollie North as a hero and buys his books. But Ollie is one of the tribe. Virtue to movement conservatives begins and ends with being one of them and following conservative ideology. Even more ironic when you consider decades' worth of conservative politicians decrying moral relativism.
