Not wanting Rush Limbaugh to feel left out in the “I did something idiotic this week” club, John Kerry burst back into the national spotlight with a humdinger.

At a rally in Pasadena, Kerry made the following comment to students (and later really wished he hadn’t):

You know, education — if you make the most of it, you study hard and you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well.

If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.

While I think we can mostly agree that the policy in Iraq needs fixing, the joke just wasn’t funny. John Kerry followed up with a news conference further explaining his distaste for the Bush administration and the Republican-controlled Congress.

Btw, the day after he said he would apologize to no one, he proceeded to apologize to any troops who may have been offended. Several campaign appearances by Kerry for other candidates were cancelled so his botched joke didn’t bleed over into that Democratic momentum buildup. Not exactly the way a 2008 presidential hopeful wants to stumble back onto the stage! Let’s move on from 2004 anyway….

For a good laugh, take a look at Ze Frank’s take on the situation.

Sigh.

UPDATE: Keith Olbermann blasts Bush in his special comment saying that Kerry was actually calling Bush stupid.