C3PX said:

... a good pre-emtive counter strike to all the criticism he is obviously expecting to get over this thing.

I think that's it exactly.
It's two-fold approach for him. He gets to look as though he isn't an egomaniac by appearing not to be bothered by a poor reception - and - he gets to feign shock at its success if it does well.

I have heard too many people defend the PT by saying that the OT was too much to live up too, that is BS....the PT suffered from being...really poorly written and executed

That's it in a nutshell.
Sequels aren't automatically bad. If they're done well, they can be just as good or better than the previous film\films, ie: Godfather II, Empire Strikes Back*, Casino Royale, Batman Begins, Two Towers.

*I like Star Wars better, but I'm in the minority. Empire was well done.