It was a botched joke

While addressing a group of university students in California, Senator John Kerry (D-MA) unleashed a zinger:

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. If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq.

Senator Kerry certainly looks like a jackass, doesn't he? In the face of the ensuing media free-for-all Kerry issued a statement which dismissed the comment as "a botched joke". The fact is, whether he intended to or not, Kerry did insult the troops in Iraq. The rhetoric from the Kerry camp claims that the senator's intent was to take a shot at the President. MSNBC.com reports that Kerry's prepared text reads as follows:

Do you know where you end up if you don't study, if you aren't smart, if you're intellectually lazy? You end up getting us stuck in a war in Iraq. Just ask President Bush.

So why can't Senator Kerry simply explain that he didn't mean to insult the intelligence of America's troops, he only meant to insult the intelligence of America's Commander in Chief? Isn't it possible that Senator Kerry said exactly what he was thinking? It seems to me that Kerry's only real goof was speaking as he did without giving it enough forethought (or at least paying closer attention to his notes).