John Kerry, who was mercilessly “Swift-Boated” in the 2004 Presidential election, apparently committed the equivalent of Swift-Boat hari-kari today by a clumsy and inartful comment about the Idiot-in-Chief.

Although Kerry’s clear intent was to blame¬†Bush’s lack of education for the mess in Iraq, the Republican¬†smear machine immediately¬†twisted this into a slur on the troops, showing¬†the type of creativity and responsiveness that was noticeably absent by the¬†Administration during Katrina and Iraq.

The GOP was so elated at this election-eve development that¬†they dropped their planned “November Surprise” — code-named “Osama, Call Me” — a plot to elicit another bin Laden videotape.

Democratic strategists, however, were not overly concerned, claiming that “at least Kerry’s remarks will take middle America’s minds off the New Jersey Court ruling on gay marriage.”

But Kerry’s remark — “If you make an effort to be smart, you can do well;¬†if you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq” — received widespread support from some unexpected quarters.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki came to Kerry’s defense, stating that “maybe if I had studied a bit more in school and gotten a job with a Western think tank, I wouldn’t be stuck these days in living hell, between these freakin’ crazy Shia and Sunnis.”

Bush, in full campaign mode, called Kerry’s statement “shameful,” asserting that “education has nothing to do with whether you serve your country in time of war — everybody knows it really depends on who your Daddy is.”