Kerry's foot in mouth

If anything, Sen. John Kerry gave punchdrunk Republicans something to rally around Tuesday.

On a day when aides for Virginia Sen. George Allen went all WWE on a heckler, Kerry put his foot in his mouth.

Unless you’ve been in a cave, you know about Kerry’s comments to a group of California students regarding getting education and ending up in Iraq. He apologized Wednesday, calling the comments a bad joke -- that he was really talking about Bush being a bad student and an inept leader.

But that didn’t stop critics from beating him down first. And they should have. Mothers who lost sons in Iraq don’t want to hear such elitist language, even as a joke. Neither do veterans or other patriots.

Yes, the Iraq war has not gone well, but we always need to remember our volunteer soldiers are over there fighting -- and dying.

Kerry should have learned from past controversy associated with his words about combat.

Here’s a thought for his speech writers: Avoid war references, and make the jokes less complex. Knock-knock jokes are simple and they almost always draw a chuckle.

Meanwhile, for the GOP and its spin machine, which hasn't had a lot to applaud in key races this election season, Tuesday was a good day.