He was the guy they nominated in '04, and came within 3% to winning the Presidency. He may set no strategy, but the silence from those in the Dem Party who do speaks loudly that Kerry's sentiments are their's.
Very well stated.
This piece from Time is just a classic MSM attempt at damage control after a prominent Democrat makes a big gaffe. It's clear from Kerry's context that he was not deriding Bush's intelligence (although he's not incapable of doing so, despite the fact that Bush had better grades at Yale than he did and better SAT scores), but he was insulting the collective smarts of the military personnel in Iraq.
As for the article's claim that "Democrats can easily disown" Kerry by cancelling scheduled appearances with him, it is noteworthy that Casey in Pennsylvania is going right on with his event with Kerry despite all this.