Posted on 06/20/2005 2:34:09 PM PDT by Budgie
Geldof Defends Bush on Africa
By Victoria Ward, PA, in New York
Live 8 organiser Bob Geldof claims George Bush has done more for Africa than any other US president.
He said he had recently defended Bush on the issue in France.
“They refuse to accept, because of their political ideology, that he has actually done more than any American president for Africa,” Geldof told Time magazine.
“But it’s empirically so.”
Geldof and U2 singer Bono have teamed up to recreate the 1985 Live Aid event in a string of free concerts taking place around the world on July 2.
The former Boomtown Rat stressed that the moment was not just plucked from the sky and was a political, not a cultural event.
“This G8 is in the UK, where the Prime Minister was once a young git with the worst haircut save mine,” he said.
“He attended Live Aid and was informed by it, so he’s in tune with where we’ve come from.”
The pair are aiming to appeal to the G8 leaders’ sense of legacy to include debt forgiveness, fair trade and increased aid in their Africa policies.
“The most important and toughest nut is still President Bush,” Bono told the magazine.
“He feels he’s already doubled and tripled aid to Africa, which he has. But he started from far too low a place.
“It’s hard for him because of the expense of the war and the debts. But I have a hunch that he will step forward with something. And it’ll take somebody like him.”
Geldof admits he initially dismissed the idea of creating another Live Aid because he thought it could never be as good as the original.
“Not to be immodest, but the first one was perfect in almost every sense,” he said.
Eventually, he claims he was “ambushed” by Bono and their friend, screenwriter Richard Curtis, and caved in.
But it was not enough to put on a normal concert, he said, it had to be something grand.
The series of concerts, in cities including London, Philadelphia, Tokyo, Rome and Toronto, feature some of the biggest names in music including Pink Floyd, U2, Coldplay, Madonna and Paul McCartney.
“They refuse to accept, because of their political ideology, that he has actually done more than any American president for Africa,” Geldof told Time magazine.
Shock!
I'll give Geldof some credit, at least he understands that insulting Conservatives doesn't help his cause, unlike most of the "acts" that will be playing Live-8.
My guess is some on this website will have a newfound zeal for Sir Bob
Some that feed you will let you bite their hand. Bobbie decided, in this case, to err on the side of caution.
Imagine that...someone in the entertainment industry that stands up for the facts..."empirical evidence.." Rarely do you hear that from the circles this man travels in.
"I'll give Geldof some credit, at least he understands that insulting Conservatives doesn't help his cause, unlike most of the "acts" that will be playing Live-8."
I believe that Geldof is something of a conservative himself.
Saw him being interviewed the other evening. The subject of Margaret Thatcher came up and he was quite warm in his opinion of her.
Seventh sign of the Apocolypse: Bob Geldof Makes Sense.
I went to Live Aid in Britain by complete accident. I had an Irish friend who worked for a London travel company in New York. I asked her if she could get me tickets to a Bruce Springsteen concert while I was in London. Not only did she get me Springsteen tickets but tickets to something called "Live Aid".
I was twenty something and thought I was just too cool. Maybe I sat next to Blair and didn't know!
Gee. An honest liberal. Counting all the rest of them that makes........one.
I watched Live Aid on television, and the only thing I remember is Martha Quinn coked up until she couldn't walk.
I doubt that they needed any machinery to demolish that place. They just knocked over the taller pieces by hand.
"Yes, Mr. Clinton spoke a lot on the subject, bu Mr. Bush has taken some real action, and that is what counts."
Geldof is from an earlier generation of musicians who still knew how to make music instead of just rhetoric. Maybe the slogan for the new Live Aid should be "Leave your politics at the door."
Show me. Give me an accurate and full accounting of where all that money went the last time you did this concert, and how the AFricans' lives are in any way improved.
I am afraid however, that this concert could easily turn into one of those ANSWER political rallies you see on C-SPAN once in a while.
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