John Kerry - A little context goes a long way

A little context goes a long way. For all of the complaints concerning the Pope's comments on Islam about a month ago, the truth is that the Pope was condemning the very words that were than repeated out of context as though they represented his own thinking

John Kerry's gaffe two nights ago is much the same.

This is what Kerry had scripted to say:

“I can’t overstress the importance of a great education. Do you know where you end up if you don’t study, if you aren’t smart, if you’re intellectually lazy? You end up getting us stuck in a war in Iraq.”

It's not a good joke, but he's told it on several occassions. Unfortunately, he blew it. This is what Kerry actually said:

“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.”

Okay, he said it, but everyone knows (if they want to) that it wasn't what he meant to say.

Question:
If they know that's not what he meant, and they portray it as though it were anyway, is that really any different from just forging a speech by taking random words from old videotape and stringing them together into completely new sentences?