"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 John Kerry

Was John Kerry trying to insult George Bush or American troops? At this point, does it even matter what he intended to do? A discussion of how Kerry's comments have been received could be an interesting exercise for students - even the people who attended the lecture heard different things. Here's Bush's response (notice that the White House has flat-out ignored Kerry's claim that it was a shot at the President and not the troops), and here's Kerry's rebuttal (notice that Kerry's "I was a soldier" appeal is falling on deaf ears, just like it did during the elections).