When are a series of major mistakes just "a series of small gaffes"? When John McCain makes them

Probably the biggest joke of the campaign was the recent effort by the Republicans to complain about Obama's media coverage. McCain has been getting a free ride from the press corps for months. The so-called "dean" of the political punditry, David Broder, basically said McCain can make mistakes and we don't care -- because the insiders all know McCain:

McCain benefits from a long-established reputation as a man who says what he believes. His shifts in position that have occurred in this campaign seem not to have damaged that aura.

And, apparently, all of McCain's recent mistakes haven't damaged that aura either. Hence, this paragraph buried in today's Washington Post:

McCain also made a series of small gaffes this week, referring to the "Iraq-Pakistan border" and later to the country of "Czechoslovakia," neither of which exist. And his mistaken comment yesterday that the troops increase in Iraq began a movement called the Awakening, which started months before the military buildup, forced a day of explanations from his campaign.

A series of small gaffes? On foreign policy? McCain's alleged strong suit? It's a small gaffe when McCain claimed that the surge produced a result it didn't?

This wouldn't be "a series of small gaffes" for any candidate for whom the media didn't have great affection (i.e., a Democrat). The aura would be gone.