there have been times when Batman was the one trying to kill Joker and Gordon kept him from doing so - threatened him to put a bullet through him if he didn't step down, in fact.
This seems like something that would be a relief for me to read. Can you tell me which issue this happened in?
There have been times when it's been implied, if not outright said, that Bruce didn't train Jason well enough.
Since none of that was ever hinted at upto A Death in A Family, I'm putting that down to lame DC retcons.
He didn't answer the Batfamily's questions when they asked him if he'd murdered Vesper Fairchild, either, remember?
He was an emotional wreck during the Vesper confrontation, as opposed to when Alfred confronted him. Besides, is my memory faulty or didn't he say that Stephanie was never really Robin, somewhere down the line?
My assumption is that he was as usual playing Merry Mixed Messages Which is one reason that I am convinced that Post-crisis Batman should never been allowed to raise children. He's systematically psychologically scarred Jason, Tim, Cass and Steph with his "merry mixed messages" and the only reason I can fathom that Dick turned out relatively well-adjusted was because he was raised Pre-Crisis and even then went all grimdark avenger in his adulthood, thanks to Bruce's emotional incompetence. XD
The derailment of Leslie Thompkins' character alone was... ugh. My reaction to that was a little more extreme than "ugh", honestly. *takes pills* *breathes*
The case with Jason's suit has been standing in the Cave since before Tim became Robin. Every single time DC can shove it down the readers' throat that Batman is Angsting and Feeling Responsible for his charges, they do - often with a helpful shot of aforementioned Case. And then somebody invariably comes up to him and reminds him that it wasn't his fault Jason was a stupid kid. Also, it didn't stop him making the same mistake with Stephanie, nor did she ever get a case of any kind in the Cave, presumably because Batman suspected she wasn't dead and that automatically absolved him of the need to feel just as guilty over what happened to her or honor her contribution in any way.
In the end though, it seems silly to try and draw any conclusions from a so much bad writing. I suppose we shall have to agree to disagree. =)