I believe the Jar Jar character suffers of the over the top and stupid micro scenes he’s involved in; when the worst parts are removed, the character is no longer (or “less”) obnoxious. I would have never bet a penny on it but when I saw Hal’s version I was very surprised to even smile at what’s left of the comic relief characterization (“more droids you say” with a cut to the invading army is funny; the encounter with Sebulba with the whistling joke is also nice) while other bits can’t be saved without seriously damaging the flow of the montage (the “bad droid” battle scene and when he gets his nuts smashed by the Federation tank: if you cut it you reduce too much of the gungan battle). On a logical point of view, I don’t think it’s less distracting or ridiculous to leave a character in a shot while removing his obvious line (“wessa going home” in L8 version is awkward: you clearly see Jar Jar yelling something but you don’t hear anything).