I don’t know if this places me into Derb’s posse or not, but I have to admit that I don’t think John Kerry meant to suggest that if you are uneducated, you end up as a soldier stuck in Iraq. His folks have released what they claim is the original prepared text, and it shows that Kerry was planning to make fun of Bush’s education. It came out wrong. That’s it (assuming you don’t think the prepared text was fabricated after the fact).
In my mind, what Kerry intended to say was bad enough, deserving of an apology it and of itself. I don’t think serious politicians of any party should resort to “he’s so stupid” insults about the other, but maybe I’m just a fuddy-duddy (notice the use of the term “posse” to compensate).