Kerry apologizes for Iraq remarks
Foreign Desk Report

WASHINGTON—Democratic Sen. John Kerry said on Wednesday he was sorry about a “botched joke” that drew election-year fire from President George W. Bush and other Republicans who accused him of insulting U.S. troops in Iraq. Kerry reiterated the target of his joke was Bush, who immediately seized on the senator’s remarks to rally Republican supporters ahead of Tuesday’s elections, in which the party’s control of Congress is at risk. Kerry said he was returning to Washington from a trip campaigning on behalf of Democratic congressional candidates because he did not want to be “a distraction.”
A day after rejecting calls to apologize for his remarks, Kerry, appearing on the “Imus in the Morning” radio show on MSNBC, declared: “I said it was a botched joke. Of course, I’m sorry about a botched joke.” While campaigning in California on Monday, Kerry told a college crowd: “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.