Bono: Without Bill Clinton 'Universe Just Wouldn't Be As Friendly To Humans'

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On Thursday, Time magazine published a love letter from activist and musician Bono to former President Bill Clinton.

"There are professors who pretend to be populists and populists who pretend to be professors," the U2 lead-singer began his piece in the Heroes section of the 2010 Time 100 list.

"But there have never been a head and heart so perfectly matched as the pair within William Jefferson Clinton," he continued.

What followed was even more sick-making (h/t NBer Rusty Weiss):

It's an impossible equilibrium: wonky intellectual meets "Oh, hell" card player, oxygen and hydrogen. He defies the laws of physics as his daily exercise, but without him the universe just wouldn't be as friendly to humans.

Without him the universe just wouldn't be as friendly to humans?

That much sugar could send one into a diabetic coma.

But Bono wasn't done:

Tackling extreme poverty is something Clinton is no stranger to - he has worked in Africa for many years, kicking off debt cancellation, which resulted in an additional 42 million African children going to school. He had a huge hand in slashing the price of AIDS drugs for people who couldn't afford them.

Slashing the price of AIDS drugs in Africa. Hmm. Who did that?

Oh. That's right. It was former President George W. Bush.

In fact, in January 2003, Bono praised Bush for his Africa AIDS relief program as reported by BBC.com:

U2 frontman Bono has welcomed US President George Bush's decision to spend more on Aids prevention in Africa and the Caribbean.

The US leader is to increase the country's Emergency Plan for Aids Relief budget by $10 billion (£6.28bn) to $15 billion (£9.43bn) over the next five years.

President Bush said on Tuesday the budget would help prevent seven million new infections.

"If we can turn the president's bold long term vision into near term results we're excited," Bono said in a statement.

Three years later, Bono was interviewed on NBC's "Meet the Press" and continued to praise Bush:

I think he's done an incredible job, his administration, on AIDS. And 250,000 Africans are on anti-viral drugs. They literally owe their lives to America. In one year that's been done.

This program was so successful that CBS's "60 Minutes" did a piece earlier this month calling it "something so momentous that it is saving millions of lives and generating goodwill for America around the world." An AIDS doctor in Uganda was quoted as saying, "There has never been a rescue mission, a mission of mercy of this magnitude that has produced such magnanimous results."

Yet, roughly three weeks later, Bono is praising Clinton for slashing the price of AIDS drugs in Africa?

To be sure, the rock star did mention Bush's name in his Time love letter -- "That's why he was a brilliant choice to coordinate U.S. support earlier this year, along with President George W. Bush" -- but Clinton got all the AIDS relief credit. 

Unfortunately, despite Bush's fabulous work on a cause Bono himself championed, this wasn't the first time the rock star snubbed the 43rd President.

Back in 2006, Bono dodged a photo op hug with Bush as reported by Irish Central last July:

On a BBC program last night, the superstar U2 singer recalled how he he stiffed President Bush out of the photo op in 2006 at the National Prayer Breakfast.

The former President was on the stage with Bush when "Dubya" tried to hug Bono.

"There were all kinds of people in the audience," Bono recalled on Jonathan Ross' talk show.

Bono admitted he didn't feel like being the recipient of a hug from a man with whom he had so many political disagreements.

As the affectionate President neared, Bono tried to "dodge the hug" by jumping behind a podium.

The sidestep worked, and just about nobody in the audience knew it happened - though it was all captured on camera.

But - there was one sharp-eyed Senator in the bipartisan crowd who saw it all.

"When I was sitting down I was beside Sen. Obama, the star said the future President whispered to him, 'Nice work with the hug dodge.'"

Yeah. Nice work dodging a man that has saved millions of lives in Africa advancing a program you supported.

Makes you want to chuckle with Bono and that British television audience, doesn't it? 

Irony is the rock star isn't laughing now, for the Democrat-controlled Congress is about to cut foreign aid dollars, and Bono is none-too-pleased according to a piece published by Foreign Policy Thursday:

Add artist and activist Bono to the list of development leaders protesting the proposed cuts in foreign aid funding put forth by Senate Budget Committee chairman Kent Conrad. The U2 frontman pleaded for Washington to resist Conrad's cuts during an impassioned speech Wednesday night in Washington. [...]

"Development gets even less if Senator Conrad gets his way," Bono told a crowd of generals, politicians, and other Washington glitterati at the Ritz Carlton, where the Atlantic Council was holding its annual awards dinner and gala. "So you peaceniks in fatigues have a job to do over the next few weeks."

For the record, that would be DEMOCRAT Senator Conrad, Mr. Rock Star.

As for the Clinton loving, this wasn't the first time Bono's done that either. As NewsBusters' Tim Graham pointed out in 2007, the U2 singer gave an interview to Rolling Stone that November extolling the brilliance of the 42nd President for having spoken with leading members of the IRA in the '90s.

Of course, he also said told Rolling Stone that America should talk to terrorist groups Hamas and al Qaeda.

Makes you wonder about the matching of HIS head and heart.