Scooter Libby broke the law, was tried, convicted and sentenced. George Bush pardoned him and he avoided jail. Did Bush do this because Libby was secretly acting on orders from him, or the Vice President? Possibly, but the expressed reason was that Libby was a good person. George Bush seems to have this idea that some people are fundamentally good (and therefore they should not be punished when they break the law) and that some are fundamentally bad and should be punished whether they have been convicted of a crime or not (those persons being held in Guantamo and who knows where else).
Bush governs with his gut more than from law or facts or analysis. (See Scott McClellan’s book What Happened for more on this subject.) But the larger issue is that there are people like Bush who share this outlook. There are those who believe that the solution to most everything is for people to become “like us” or be shunned; these people we call “conservatives”. Then there are those people who beleive that the solution to most everything is for us to learn from people who are “not like us” and that we should embrace them; these people we call “liberals”.
I think this distinction explains why conservatives talk about law and order (imposed on others), but typically choose expedients when it comes to what they want to do. This is why liberals are typically “soft on crime” but impose a rabid political correctness on themselves.