At the urging of Pamela Leavey of The Democratic Daily blog, Sen. John Kerry sat down and charmed more than a half-dozen liberal bloggers after his speech Thursday to the Pacific Council on International Policy in Century City. Kerry asked that the conversation be off the record, but some of the invited bloggers posted his remarks anyway. Hollywood Liberal writes that Kerry "agreed completely with someone's assessment that everything that Bush does is solely for the purpose of looting the country. He basically said that Bush and his cohorts are criminals" and that "at some other point he referred to Supreme Court Justices Alito, Scalia, and Roberts as 'Idiots.'" Steve Audio quotes Kerry saying "I should have fought back harder" during the 2004 campaign. Looks like the Huffington Post, Daily Kos, and Martini Republic were also represented, plus Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks Internet talk show. The gathering began inauspiciously—the hotel sign directed guests to the "John Kerry Bloogers Meeting"—but the Senator used the gaffe to win over his audience. Mission accomplished, writes Leavey: "My impression of the 'Bloogers' meeting was that each of the 'bloogers' walked away with a different impression of John Kerry, from the one the went into the room with. And that, part and parcel was what it was all about."

Photo: The Democratic Daily