Senator Kerry and the Botched Joke

So, I'm more annoyed by John Kerry's follow up to his "botched joke" than I am with the botched joke itself. I know that what he SAID wasn't what he MEANT TO SAY... and I know that the Republicans are going out of there way to exploit that and convince people that what he MEANT was what he SAID... but when I say something that's not what I mean to say, and it offends people... I apologize.

Anyway, I wrote a letter to Kerry as one of his constituents... still needs some edits, but I'll be sure to post it when it's done. In the meanwhile, this piece from the Chicago Tribune seems to capture my feelings. Specifically:

It probably wasn’t a good idea to accuse everyone who saw the video of his campaign appearance and thought he was disparaging the IQ of U.S. troops of being “crazy.”... Let’s give Kerry the benefit of the doubt and stipulate he muffed his line. Wouldn’t it still have been wiser for him to humbly apologize to the troops directly for the misunderstanding that he, after all, caused?"