The current vulnerability affects environments where untrusted code already executes. Since applets can be used to upload arbitrary code, it makes sense to block it.
This isn't a political move I don't think, just a common sense mitigatory move to protect people. Web apps running Java are safe from this vulnerability, unless they're accepting user-supplied code and running it.
That's a great clarification and fact that sadly may be lost in the dramatics of the headline, either done on purpose or someone didn't understand before submitting.
In a browser: Java, like anything has it's bugs. Hopefully the stewards of Java for the browser keep it current.