Here's the Merriam-Webster Unabridged entry for "Botch:"
Main Entry: botch
Function:transitive verb
Inflected Form(s): -ed/-ing/-es
Etymology: Middle English bocchen
To make a mess of through clumsiness, stupidity, or lack of ability : foul up hopelessly : BUNGLE, SPOIL, RUIN
Who uses the word "botched" in regular conversation, anyway? Kerry, probably: "Theresa, m'dear, please sack the butler. He appears to have botched the martinis again."
Kerry's statement, and his refusal to admit he had said anything wrong, was so astonishingly … John Kerry, that even the Popular Press had trouble pretending the GOP was overreacting.
Not Kerry, though. His tortured non-apology was issued as a printed statement, instead of him saying it in front of reporters:
"I sincerely regret that my words were misinterpreted to wrongly imply anything negative about those in uniform …"
Which is perilously close to a botched apology because a close reading shows Kerry regrets the misinterpretation of his words … as opposed to apologizing for his actual words which he actually spoke.
According to the CNN coverage of the Kerry issue, when asked why every candidate in the solar system for whom he had been planning to appear had suddenly developed scheduling conflicts, his office said the cancellations were necessary to prevent,
"[T]he Republican hate machine to use Democratic candidates as their proxies in their distorted spin war in which once again they're willing to exploit brave American troops."
Ohhhhh Kaaaaayyyy, then. That should put this whole thing to rest.
As usual, the central point has been missed. Kerry's botched joke and botched apology will not be the drivers in Tuesday's election, any more than Mark Foley's botched morality will be.
What one has already become, and the other very likely will become, are symbols of larger and more important issues.
Putting aside for a moment about who knew what and when, the Foley matter provided a useful shorthand about what people are upset about with regard to the GOP leadership in the House: Republicans are no longer seen as being good stewards of their Branch of government.