As an add on to the story of Ramos and Compean, President Bush has decided not to pardon Scooter Libby. Bush commuted Libby's sentence to two and a half years back in July, 2007, but many prominent conservatives - most recently Fred Barnes in the Weekly Standard - have been urging Bush to pardon Libby.

As Michael Isikoff notes, the decision is "consistent with Bush's overall stingy record when it comes to using presidential pardon powers," but is has angered conservatives nevertheless:

"I'm flabbergasted," said one influential Republican activist, who had raised the issue with White House aides, but who asked not to be identified criticizing the president. Ambassador Richard Carlson, the vice chairman of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a neo-conservative think tank, added that he too was "shocked" at Bush's denial of a pardon for Libby. "George Bush has always prided himself on doing the right thing regardless of the polls or the pundits," Carlson said. "Now he is leaving office with a shameful cloud over his head." Carlson, who was among those who recently weighed in on behalf of Libby with the White House and previously raised money for his legal defense fund, said that Libby had taken a "knife in the heart" from critics of the president and deserved to have his conviction erased.

Like many decisions during his eight year tenure, Bush's final acts in office - to commute Ramos and Compean's sentences but not to pardon Libby - appear to have left conservatives with mixed emotions.