Reply #6: Here are my hypotheses

[spooky3]

All his life he has been able to say what he thinks and have people be ok with it. In a small state, where people know him, they are going to be inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt if he says something like this. But when you are a front runner in a national campaign, it's a completely different story. The other leaders in the race have learned for the most part to be more careful with their words. It makes some people perceive them as "phony" but that is our political system.

A second H is that what he has said and done HAS been twisted unfairly at times because the media IS RW biased and biased in their interest to grab reader interest with a sensational headline. You seem to have bought some of this yourself. He DID apologize for the confederate flag comment. He was RIGHT about Osama having the right to a fair trial (that's known as the American way, is it not?). Did he use the best judgement in choosing the context, or the best wording in that incident or others? Maybe not, but the point is the media have made "gaffes" out of minor comments or comments on which he is FACTUALLY correct, or expressing a very reasonable opinion shared by many of us who are not wingnuts. Why hasn't he learned from the incidents? I'll leave that for the psychologists.