A number of liberal bloggers who were deeply angry with Bill Clinton for campaigning for Joe Lieberman in Connecticut, and who are even more deeply angry with Hillary Clinton for voting to authorize the Iraq war and never apologizing, are displaying a newly friendly attitude today. The reason: the former president recently invited them to a bloggers’ meeting at his offices in Harlem. To say they were charmed would be an understatement. “Big Dog and the Gals” was the title of an account of the meeting by Jane Hamsher, the founder of the firedoglake blog and one of the most virulent bashers of Lieberman. The former president “was wearing a very well tailored suit,” wrote Hamsher’s writing partner Christy Hardin Smith, “and a blue shirt with very tiny white pinstripes — the blue was the exact color of his eyes. (Someone has a good eye that is doing his tailoring.)” “He’s got beautiful blue eyes (this isn’t something I normally notice, but in his case I did, and he does, and I suspect he uses it to good effect),” wrote Americablog’s John Aravosis. “That is me in the back standing next to President Clinton,” wrote MyDD’s Chris Bowers. “That is pretty darn cool in and of itself.” According to talkleft’s Jeralyn Merritt, the bloggers involved in the meeting were:

Jane Hamsher and Christy Hardin Smith from Firedoglake
Atrios
McJoan from Daily Kos
John Aravosis and Joe from AmericaBlog
Matt Stoller and Chris Bowers from MyDD
Bill Scherer from Liberal Oasis
Dave from SeeingtheForest
Steve from The Carpetbagger Report
Jessica from Feministing
Barbara from Mahablog
Jeralyn Merritt from TalkLeft (and the TL Kid)
Attending by phone: John Amato from Crooks and Liars

One purpose of the meeting was for Clinton to reward the bloggers for their attacks on the ABC docudrama “The Path to 9/11.” But perhaps the most important news to come out of the meeting was that at least some the bloggers, who are usually quick to proclaim their independence, told the former president they want to work more closely with the Democratic party. From Smith’s account of the meeting:

Jane [Hamsher] wasn’t shy about speaking her mind… And she spent some time during the meeting emphasizing the lack of coordinated message and how much more effective the party could be if they would work with — instead of against — us. The ABC/Disney movie work was a great example of the synergy that can be created when the blogs and the party and various individual interests all get on the same page and push something important to all of us.Imagine where that could take us for the elections in November.