I just checked in a new version of CommitWindow with two user-visible modifications:
• Deselect external items by default. • Preserve the last few commit summaries in a persistent pop-up menu. Summaries are saved even when the commit is canceled.
To get it, you'll need to check out the latest version of $TM_SUPPORT_PATH/CommitWindow.app. You don't need to update Subversion or the other version control bundles.
As for word completion with escape, one could remove the escape key equivalent from the cancel button, but keyboard-only users still need a way to cancel.
Chris