This is old news now (or should be, at least), but I couldn't post yesterday.

John Kerry's unfortunate joke about being stuck in Iraq (like most jokes from politicians) was awkward and not very funny, and I admit it certainly sounded like a swipe against uneducated soldiers, but I don't believe he actually intended it that way. Surely we've all said something we intended one way but that actually came out entirely different. Most of us can shrug those kinds of things off with a hasty correction, but political figures have their mistakes immortalized on videotape for everyone to see repeated over and over on the pundit shows.

I liked the spirit of Kerry's rather harshly worded initial press release (it was refreshing to see a politician speak outside of the bland politically-correct tones we normally expect to hear), but I wish he'd started with something like, "I misspoke and I'm sorry if anyone took my awkward attempts at humor the wrong way" before launching into his attack on Republicans. That would have been more helpful in defusing all these partisans demanding apologies.

So now we come to the predictable stage where anyone who's ever been associated with John Kerry will be branded as troop-haters if they don't immediately denounce Kerry's statement and kick the (metaphorically) poor Senator down like a mangy dog in the street. Here in Virginia, for example, all Republican blogging eyes are on Jim Webb (who has received campaign help from Kerry) to see what he says about it, and by extension, if he really supports our troops (including his own son) or not. Because clearly, one's comments about somebody else's comments are the only way to judge a person's true feelings about our boys serving overseas.

The moral of this story is that politicians should never try to be funny under any circumstances, but most especially a week before a national election. :)

P.S.: I hate linking to RedState, but this visual response from troops in Iraq is pretty dern funny.

P.P.S.: Kerry issued an official apology for the misunderstanding.

Thomas Krehbiel writes The Krehbiel Strikes Back, a moderate commentary on news, media, politics, and culture. — Virginians, Vote No.