John Kerry’s comments stirred up quite a bit of emotion yesterday. The American Legion promptly denounced them, and John McCain and President Bush rushed to hold press conferences. Kerry vowed to apologize “to no one” and insisted that the statement–“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”–was a botched joke directed at Yale graduate George W. Bush.

Few, however, stopped to consider the factual nature of the assertions. If they did, they’d realize there’s nothing to be offended about, because Kerry’s words were simply incorrect. In fact, members of the armed forces are more often high school graduates, and more often of above-average intelligence, than average Americans.