They definitely arent perfect but they dont just call coins cleaned because they need "an easy out" as you say. Not only do they have no need for an out in general its especially true for the most standard coin they receive to grade such as this one. They called it clean because they saw evidence of it.
Did you by chance take advantage of the free Secure with TV quarterly special on this? I'm only asking this, in case you did it to get a TV image of it. I've heard a lot of people say they will not send a coin in for Secure Service until they have it in a straight grade holder first. It's possible the "Sniffer" got wind of something.
There were a couple isolated hairlines, but I could not really tell if they were above the surface (die polish) or below (scratch). All but one seemed to stop at the devices, and that one looked raised (die scratch).