Talk about a Messianic complex.
Posted on 10/20/2005 5:28:58 AM PDT by brwnsuga
Before getting on stage before his fans in a Wednesday night concert, U2 frontman Bono bent President Bush's ear about the world's poor.
The rock star and the president had lunch in the private dining room off the Oval Office, ordering from the menu at the same mess hall where White House staffers get their lunch. Bush, dressed in the classic presidential uniform of suit and red tie, also showed Bono, dressed in his trademark black jeans and sunglasses, around the Oval Office.
Bono told Rolling Stone magazine in an interview before they dined that he had no fear of meeting Bush or any other world leader.
"They should be afraid, because they will be held accountable for what happened on their watch," Bono told the magazine for an article on newsstands Friday. "I'm representing the poorest and the most vulnerable people. On a spiritual level, I have that with me. I'm throwing a punch, and the fist belongs to people who can't be in the room, whose rage, whose anger, whose hurt I represent.
"The moral force is way beyond mine, it's an argument that has much more weight than I have. So I'm not feeling nervous."
Over an hour and 40 minute meeting, Bono and Bush discussed debt relief, AIDS, malaria and world trade, said presidential spokesman Scott McClellan. McClellan said they also talked about the concerts that U2 was preparing to put on at Washington's MCI Center Wednesday and Thursday night.
In the Rolling Stone interview, Bono heaped praise on Bush for providing $15 billion to help fight AIDS in Africa, money that is helping pay for anti-retroviral drugs. He said he was disappointed that Bush and Congress had cut the Millennium Challenge program that gives foreign aid to countries that pursue political, economic and human rights reforms, but he'll keep pushing them to fund the full amount that the president promised.
Bono said he is "capable of having a row" if he doesn't get what he wants. He said he once criticized Bush for not getting the Millennium Challenge money out quick enough and was rebuked for it.
"One senator threw a newspaper at me in a meeting. 'How dare you disrespect the president of the United States!'" Bono told the magazine.
Bono said he doesn't support any president from the left or the right, but he has a hard time criticizing Bush after he has sent the money to Africa. He said he's made it clear that he doesn't support the war in Iraq, but he doesn't campaign against it because his main priority is helping the poor and disadvantaged.
"I work for them," Bono said. "If me not shooting my mouth off about the war in Iraq is the price I pay, then I'm prepared to pay it."
But, he added, "I'm a big-mouthed Irish rock star. Of course it frustrates me."
Interesting idea. On the one hand, I don't think any of us should be "afraid" to meet the President. You just look him in the eye, hold out your hand, and say, "Nice to meet you, Mr. President!" On the other hand, for someone who's not even American to act like the President of the U.S. is morally answerable to him is ... goofy.
That's the most disturbing part of all this.
Thanks :)
Uh-oh...
now Dubya's gone and leaked the code name of another CIA operative...
Pretty bad timing, IMHO.
"That's the most disturbing part of all this."
I know.
Bono: Did you know that there are poor people in the world?
Bush: Yep.
.
<wind stirs in the background>
.
Bono: That's pretty much all I had. Um,.. Here, I can do shadow puppets.
<holding hands in beam of sun light>
This is a doggy. Ruff! Ruff! And now a butterfly <flapping hands>
Bush: That's just great Mr. whoever you are.
<Bush reaches under desk top and presses button, ....nothing,>
Bono: I know, there's this trick I do with my toes and a lighter. Is this place fireproof?
Bush: Gee, I don't know.
<furiously pressing button, .... still nothing, presses intercom switch>
KARL! We need to talk!
Karl: Sure boss just taking care of a few lose ends.
<positioning the cross-hairs over Norway, Karl gives the Natural Disaster Selector wheel a good spin. When it comes to rest on "A plague of sexually confused water buffaloes" he hits the execute button>
How can I help?
Bush: What's wrong with my Washed-Up Entertainer Trap-O'-Doom?
Karl: It's clogged up George. We have a guy coming in tomorrow to clean it out but frankly we're going to have to come up with another method for dealing with Washed-Up Entertainers.
Bush: Why's that?
Karl: It's the Trap-O'-Doom sharks. Wimpy leftest meat is bad for their digestive system.
Bush: <He watches Bono attempting to remove his shoes. Hopping up and down on one leg Bono crashes into various vases, paintings, thermonuclear bomb activation switches>
How about a Trap-O'-Doom goat. They'll eat anything.
Karl: No I,...
Bush: A Trap-O'-Doom gopher? platypus? COME ON KARL! Give me something!
Karl: Look George I know it'll be rough but you're going to have to get him out of your office the old fashioned way. You're going to have to talk to him.
Bush: <sigh....> Hey Bono.
Bono: <trying to flick lighter with the one hand not entangled in shoe laces>
Yeah?
Bush: Do you have any hobbies?
Bono: Like shadow puppets?
Bush: Other than shadow puppets.
Bono: <with a sad forlorn look>
no....
Bush: <helping Bono to his feet>
Do you know anything about ant farms?
Bono: Is that where they grow ants?
Bush: <walking Bono out of his office>
Not quite. Ant farms allow you to take car of a colony of ants.
Bono: Are ants poor?
Bush: Well that's one way of looking at them,...
Bono: Great! Something to take care of! A purpose!
Bush: Let's see if we can get you an ant farm
<note to self: ask Karl about Trap-O'-Doom ants.>
My guess is about three months prior to the mid-term elections.
Why doesn't Bono meet with Putin, Chirac, the Prince of Monaco, etc. to get them to fleece THEIR taxpayers for the benefit of the socialist/communist/dictatorship/thug-led black holes of the world?
Why GW granted an audience to this rebel-with-a-pickpocket cause is beyond me. I hope he checked his wallet and got Bono's autograph before the for-show, spartan "staff menu" lunch broke up.
Leni
Great verbiage!
Who elected you?
Lazamataz is the name of his Big Piddle.
I wet'em.
"On a spiritual level, I have that with me."
What in the world is that supposed to mean?
got this in the mail:
-------
www.bread.org
www.bread.org/ONE
Postcard received this week:
pic of 7 men in a city holding big banner:
ONE voice
one goal
to fight global poverty and AIDS
theonecampaign.org
Bono from U2 is in the pic
an effort to rally Americans ONE by ONE to fight aids, poverty hunger in the world's poorest countries
Bono and Bread for the World helping lead a coalition of churches (hello!) businesses and nonprofit groups that are working together to persuade pres. Bush and Congress to direst and additional 1 % of our national budget to providing people in developing countries with the tools and resources they need to overcome hunger poverty and disease.
can one person make a difference? absolutely! sign the ONE declaration today!
verse: There is one body and one Spirit just as you were called to the one hope of your calling,. Eph4:4
Bread for the World: seeking justice, ending hunger.
-----
My response back to them included this:
"the bible verse quoted on the postcard, "There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling." Eph. 4:4. This verse is written to believers in Jesus Christ about our relation to other believers in Jesus Christ. "One body" means all the people who are followers of Jesus Christ and belong to Him by faith through His blood He shed for our sins. In other words, "all the people who are in the body of Christ": people who are redeemed by Christ; the true church. The Spirit is the Spirit of the God of the bible. This verse is misapplied in your organization, because the entire world is not the one body. We are not all ONE. The world is divided into those who are in the body of Christ and those who do not. We preach the gospel to everyone in the world, and everyone must decide if they want to repent and believe the gospel or not. You are either saved by God's grace or you are not. Each person must choose. God is loving and merciful to offer this salvation to the world. But we are not all one. "
It just bugs me when people try to get away with misinterpreting and misapplying scripture, in order to promote some false idea.
Talk about a Messianic complex.
Leni, the reaching out thing is going to work. I just know it. We need to give it a little bit more time.
:)
When we go to meet our Maker, we,ll find out who pleased God more. Until then, we can't judge Bono, we can only judge ourselves.
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