This is such a great example of a non-issue being blown up like crazy because the right has so little to criticize democrats for. Ol’ John Kerry says a peculiar comment about education and Iraq, and the right pounces on him. The background:

Kerry, campaigning for Democrats in California on Monday, told a group of students: “You know education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. And if you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.”

Kerry says it was a failed joking hit at Bush, that if you’re not educated you do something like get the country stuck in Iraq. The response:

McCain told “GMA” today that it didn’t seem like a joke.

“I’ve read and watched the statement over and over again,” McCain said to anchor Diane Sawyer. “I’m not sure how you can construe it that way.”

Okay, few things. First off, it’s John Kerry. He can’t tell a joke, we all know this. He strikes me as the kind of person who didn’t understand what made something funny and that was his best attempt. We should feel lucky he didn’t start carefully outlining policies in there.

Secondly… Kerry fought in Vietnam. Got some medals, I believe I’ve heard. If he were actually insulting the troops and suggesting that if you don’t go to school you end up going to war, then that’s a comment on himself. It’s like a Congressman saying “you run for the House when you aren’t smart enough to be a Senator”.

Maybe he should apologize for phrasing it poorly, but to suggest he meant to insult the troops is just plain stupid. I said the same thing about Tony Snow and Jean Schmidt.