Remember 2004? Remember when people waxed lyrical about Democratic Candidate John Kerry’s ability to speak with confidence and quality, well if there was a time where this bubble burst, you could not pick a worse time (apart from his own doomed presidential race) to step all over himself.

Kerry’s statement below could be as disastrous to the DNC as OBL’s video release in the days up to the 2004 race:

"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."

Is this a big deal…well it’s hard to say. Certainly with all the negative campaign advertising in all the senate, congressional and gubernatorial races (I have heard of a four to one ratio of spending on negative to positive ads), the muck raking would eventually reach the free media.

Kerry stepped all over the joke. I see how the joke could have worked, but it’s a bushism to be sure. The problem is that its timing was misplaced. It’s no wonder Kerry is not stumping for others in the few days left before the midterm elections.

But his comments belie a truth, which perhaps their republican opponents may have missed. The US Military is a volunteer military. But I would not be surprised to see if that if you had a higher family income, you are more likely to go to college than the military. Likewise, I would not be surprised if you have a higher SAT score, then you will be more likely to go to college than the military.

But let’s also acknowledge that many people join the military in spite of the opportunities afforded them. There are intelligent people in any army, but to presume that the armed forces are a microcosm of the wider American nation is a misnomer. And we should not expect it to be. When have armies been directly proportional to the public? Never! Maybe the Spartans or the Russians in the Second World War. A military career is, has and always will be a one that is available to almost all, but is not desirable to all.