Las Vegas Review-Journal: Democrats leave Bono disappointed: No promise of funds

[DeepModem Mom]

Democrats leave Bono disappointed
Anti-poverty activist gets no promise of funds
By STEVE TETREAULT and MOLLY BALL
REVIEW-JOURNAL

Meetings in Washington last Thursday between rock star Bono and Democrats, including Senate leader Harry Reid of Nevada, yielded a nice photo-op but not much else, according to Bono.

Bono, the U2 frontman and anti-poverty activist, was on Capitol Hill to seek assurances that $1 billion in planned U.S. spending to fight AIDS and malaria in Africa would not be lost if Congress freezes agency budgets in the coming year.

Bono said he also was seeking to close a "commitment gap" between what President Bush has requested for anti-poverty efforts and what Congress has agreed to spend in the past.

After meetings with incoming Senate Majority Leader Reid, House Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Democrats on the House Appropriations Committee, Bono said he came away empty-handed.

"I'm alarmed we could not get a commitment from the Democratic leadership to prevent the loss of $1 billion in the continuing resolution," Bono said Thursday in a statement....

http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2006/Dec-18-Mon-2006/news/11460940.html

[Patchuli]

1. Not really fair

to expect them to commit before they see how they can fix America first. I'm all for anti-poverty but in case some folks haven't noticed, there is a lot of people here who suffered through a horrible hurricane and the resulting losses and still haven't been cared for. Am I a $hit for wanting to help America first?

[arcos]

10. It is not either one or the other...

America can more than afford to help its people and to help the world as well.

[Patchuli]

21. But the wealthy aren't interested

in either their poor fellow citizens or the rest of the world. I do think charity starts at home.

[Mad_Dem_X]

23. No, you are not a $hit

We need to help this country first. We have hungry and homeless here, especially since BushCo seized power. We have to clean up our own backyard before we can help anyone else.

[Megahurtz]

29. Right On! n/t

[madfloridian]

2. The Democrats don't know what they are facing.

Our economy is in the toilet, and there may be no easy fixes. They have not been including the Iraq war expenditures in the budget deficit, and who knows what else they may find.

[maddezmom]

3. Yahoo exec, GOP strategist to lead The ONE Campaign's Board

SAN FRANCISCO The ONE Campaign -- the nonprofit launched by U-2 frontman Bono -- has tapped a prominent Republican strategist and an outgoing Yahoo executive to serve as its board chairmen.

Jack Oliver recently worked as an adviser and strategist for the Bush-Cheney campaign in 2004. And Yahoo Chief Operating Officer Dan Rosensweig will leave the company in March as part of a management shakeup announced earlier this month.

The group says both men bring a wealth of management and strategy experience to the table.

The ONE campaign is an endeavor to fight global poverty and AIDS. The group says it has nearly two-and-a-half (m) million supporters nationwide.

http://www.kesq.com/Global/story.asp?S=5832289&nav=9qrx

[jus_the_facts]

4. He could ask his buddies in the music business and Hollywood for a billion....

...I doubt it'd take that many o'them to come up with that amount. :eyes:

[Psephos]

5. I thought that was a typo at first...but no, it actually IS dems

WTF?

[ToeBot]

6. But hey, Bush is a great guy, just ask him. nt

[cyclezealot]

7. bush would gladly shell out a billion

for a chance to have Administration representatives be seen with Bono. bush is all about photo ops.

[BR_Parkway]

8. So Bono would rather have an empty committment today - like Shrub

has been giving him rather than letting them get in there and figure out what the hell we've even got left to spend?

[xchrom]

9. you can not promise what you can not give.

if the dems were unable to come up with the money after promising then that would set the stage for a black eye.

[acmavm]

11. We have a growing rate of hungry people in America, we have

record foreclosures and bankruptcies. We have thousands a year losing their jobs and the jobs they find to replace in no way measure up to the one corporate America sent overseas. We have no health care. We have a health care crisis amongst the aged, they can't afford their meds because of the scheme devised between the bush** administration and the pharmaceutical companies.

The economy is booming. But only for the upper 10 or so percent. The CEO of a major stockbroker firm can get a 40 million bonus for this year. Joe Blow at Maytag gets his pink slip.

Sorry Bono, the reality is that we're all tapped out.

[VegasWolf]

12. The Las Vegas Review is pure shit. I wouldn't use this conservative rag

to catch bird shit. This is one awful newspaper!!!!

[DerBeppo]

16. Is anyone saying the opposite?

I think the overall credibility of the source only comes into play when there are multiple takes on the same story. I can't find any other more trusted sources saying anything but the same thing.

[VegasWolf]

18. They gave me a free trial for this paper. After two weeks of Ann Coulter and J.C. Watts

and non-biased support for Bush and any and all conservative opinions, I told them to stop my free service. To put it mildly, this paper sucks royally! They are completely out of touch with the demographics of 2006 Las Vegas. But they represent the rural farm belt evangelicals perfectly well. Like all dinosaur media, they are getting desperate for money.

[Freddie Stubbs]

13. Better to not make promises which are difficult to keep than to

raise unrealistic expectations.

[gratuitous]

14. Bush is big on promises -- ask New Orleans

But a little short on performance, if you know what I mean. I, too, would like to see the Democrats make this commitment, but I think it's wise of Reid not to make a commitment at this time. We're only just now getting the hard evidence of the Republican malfeasance that we've suspected and had glimpses of for the last dozen or so years. A number of government agencies are suddenly finding their voice, and telling us that things are worse than we even imagined. Maybe a whole lot worse.

There may have to be some major remodeling work done on our own house before we can devote time to outreach. I note, however, that the writers talk about Bono's "disappoinment" and "alarm" because the Democratic leadership didn't make any promises for down-the-line that they might not be able to keep. I wonder what the tone of the article would have been had Reid and Pelosi said, "Sure Bono, how much do you need?" Would it have been "those tax-and-spend Democrats are giving away the store"? You don't suppose the major media will adopt a damned-if-they-do, damned-if-they-don't style in reporting on the Democratic majority in Congress, do you?

[Mad_Dem_X]

24. Well said! n/t

[RubyDuby in GA]

15. Well he could always just go ask his good buddy W for more $$$

Shut up you has been hack!

[mitchum]

17. "Boo hoo" cries the TAX EXILE (off key)

sanctimonious, caterwauling no talent

[judaspriestess]

19. its a comendable cause

but how do you stop poverty and sickness if the population continues to boom???

teach birth control to control the population. Give these people a choice.

lvrj is a piece of crap newspaper.

[The Stranger]

20. So Bono not only hobnobs with the GOP, but backstabs budget-balancing Democrats.

His band flies around the world in their jets playing their dated, mediocre music, and did he ever really join the anti-war movement? Did he ever make any statements against the war, stage a benefit concert against the war, or even notice that there is a huge fucking sore in the world that this buddies, the GOP neocons, created?

[Justitia]

22. Guess he feels like he can rely better on his usual mates....

Remember when he called Jesse Helms a "brave & bold man"?





http://www.villagevoice.com/blogs/bushbeat/archive/images/bono,-rice-may-25,-2005-sta-thumb.jpg





His criticism of the Democratic leadership irks me.

[Cha]

27. Whatever,

bono.

[Robbien]

25. Bono thinks "no more earmarks" shouldn't apply to him

Bono used the funky pay to play routine to get his resolution from the glad handed GOP. Now he is crying to the media that all the money he gave to the GOP was all for naught, wiped out by the "no more earmarks" ruling.

Stupid Bono is now blaming the Dems for his wasted pay to play move.

[Cha]

26. Hey bono! All our fucking money

is going to killing in IRaq.

[truthisfreedom]

28. Hey Bono, maybe if you had the balls to stand up to these neanderthals that emptied the till

and used it to play war in the mideast, we might get behind your causes. You wanna play all ends to the middle, and we've got this enormous mess to clean up over here. Ask again in a couple of years, mmm-kay?

[Megahurtz]

30. Why don't you work on Anti-Poverty in THIS Country,

Bone-Head?:grr: