C'mon; short of Skynet code doesn't have the capability of intelligence so calling code stupid is calling the person that wrote it stupid for having done it. When one says "this code is stupid", there is absolutely no express nor implied caveat of "...but of course I totally separate you from it". (I suppose someone further along the autistic or sociopathic continuum than most might genuinely make that distinction.)

Of course you are correct in the absolute that Crockford doesn't think the author has an actual mental deficiency, but that's not what calling someone stupid means, either.