The Washington Post on Bush's pardons

The Washington Post this morning is all over the pardon story, and the criticism of Bush's stingy use of his pardon power, with this article and this effective editorial.  The article, which is already been spotlighted this morning by the blogs TalkLeft and De Novo, effectively covers some of the history of presidential pardons and reiterates of the criticisms generated in the blogsphere last week (see list of posts below).

The editorial, titled "Model for Mr. Bush," does a great job spotlighting that, unlike the President, some republican governors have been willing to use their executive sentencing aggressively.  Here's the opening paragraph:

For a self-styled compassionate conservative, President Bush has been stingy with mercy. Last week, he granted four pardons, all to people sentenced to probation many years ago. The latest round of pardons brings Mr. Bush's first-term total to only 29, along with two sentence commutations. This is dramatically fewer clemency actions than any recent president has taken, barely 5 percent of those granted by President Jimmy Carter, for example. It is also dramatically less mercy than displayed by two governors of the president's party, who have reinvigorated their offices' power to give second chances: Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. of Maryland and Arnold Schwarzenegger of California.

For prior posts on the pardon issue, see:

• Bush's stingy pardon practice
• More pardon buzz
• Media criticism of Bush's pardon practice