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Bono Incensed As Hillary Plays Politics At U2 Gig
The Telegraph (UK) ^ | 10-16-2005 | Philip Sherwell

Posted on 10/15/2005 5:47:40 PM PDT by blam

Bono incensed as Hillary plays politics at U2 gig

By Philip Sherwell in Washington
(Filed: 16/10/2005)

The Irish rock star, Bono, has been angered by Senator Hillary Clinton's use of a U2 concert this week to raise funds for her political campaign coffers - even though he is a good friend of her husband, Bill.

"U2 concerts are categorically not fund-raisers for any politician. They are rock concerts for U2 fans," said his close associate, Jamie Drummond, who runs Data, the Third World advocacy group set up by Bono with Sir Bob Geldof.

"If any political fund-raising events take place at a U2 concert, it is without the involvement or knowledge of Data, U2 or Bono."

Mrs Clinton, the frontrunner to be the Democrat candidate for the White House in 2008, is charging 18 guests $2,500 (£1,400) a head to join her in a luxury box for the sold out show in Washington on Wednesday. Despite U2's public criticism, she is pressing on with the fund-raiser, which will bring in $45,000 for an outlay of about $7,000 on the box, and her staff are unapologetic.

"We do a meet-and-greet with the senator and then go in and listen to the music," said her spokesman, Ann Lewis.

Rick Santorum, a conservative Republican senator and critic of Mrs Clinton, is also taking advantage of a U2 concert, tomorrow night in Philadelphia, to raise funds.

He has block-booked 66 tickets which he is selling for $1,000 each and his aides said that he too would go ahead with the fund-raiser. Although Bono decided to make no direct comment of his own, he saw Mr Drummond's critical statement before it was issued.

The complaint was an unusually public criticism of the growing trend in American political fund-raising of using access to sold-out concerts and sports events to woo wealthy contributors. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the governor of California and former Terminator star, charged donors $100,000 each to share a private box with him for a Rolling Stones concert.

The rebuke for Mrs Clinton is all the more striking as Bono has worked closely with her husband, the former president, on issues such as increasing aid to Africa, relieving the debt of the world's poorest countries and HIV/Aids projects. He has also co-operated closely with President George W Bush and Tony Blair.

Mrs Clinton is in California this weekend for a series of celebrity-hosted Hollywood fund-raisers. The director Rob Reiner hosted a $500-a-person reception on Friday evening and yesterday it was the turn of the producer Bruce Cohen (who won an Oscar for American Beauty) to throw a $1,000-a-head brunch.

The former First Lady is a prodigious fund-raiser. She has already collected $12.5 million for her Senate re-election campaign, of which $6 million poured in over the past three months.

Other potential 2008 Democrat presidential candidates, including 2004 loser John Kerry, have also been swinging through Hollywood as the traditionally liberal bastion recovers from its depression at last year's defeat - spurred on by recent setbacks suffered by the Bush administration. "Donors are as motivated now as I've ever seen them," said the Democrat political consultant Chad Griffin.

The Clintons remain the biggest Democrat draw in Hollywood. But a gala fund-raiser in 2000 attended by the likes of Cher and Diana Ross for Mrs Clinton's Senate battle came back to haunt her as her finance manager was accused of breaking campaign funding rules. He was recently acquitted, but the involvement of a convicted felon in organising the event raised questions about how the Clinton camp vets donors.

The buzz about a possible Clinton run for the presidency increased last week with the publication of two books predicting success for her in 2008.

In one, Susan Estrich, a friend of the Clintons, is a strong cheerleader for the ex-First Lady; in the other, Dick Morris, a former aide to her husband, says she would be a disaster and argues that Condoleezza Rice, the secretary of state, should be drafted to thwart her.


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: bono; fundraiser; gigs; hillary; incensed; plays; politics; scalping; u2
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1 posted on 10/15/2005 5:47:45 PM PDT by blam
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To: blam
Bono is probably the only politically active singer I respect.
2 posted on 10/15/2005 5:50:28 PM PDT by Andy from Beaverton (I only vote Republican to stop the Democrats)
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To: blam

I guess ticket skalping is legal in Wash DC.


3 posted on 10/15/2005 5:51:57 PM PDT by SERKIT ("Blazing Saddles" explains it all.....)
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To: blam
Bono is a pro.

Why not pro bono?

4 posted on 10/15/2005 5:52:38 PM PDT by CROSSHIGHWAYMAN
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To: blam

Another "Captain Jack" moment......


5 posted on 10/15/2005 5:52:39 PM PDT by cmsgop ( Bill Clinton's Licence Plate..... "Herpes 1")
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To: blam

Gosh, I am shocked that Hillary's name was in the headline, but even Santorum is doing the same thing...usually it is reversed..

The people that pay that amount of money have more dollars than sense anyway.


6 posted on 10/15/2005 5:53:07 PM PDT by Txsleuth
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To: SERKIT

Welcome to the club, Bono. You just got "Clintoned."


7 posted on 10/15/2005 5:53:16 PM PDT by Eric in the Ozarks (Troubled by NOLA looting ? You ain't seen nothing yet.)
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To: blam
Bono has been angered by Senator Hillary Clinton's use of a U2 concert this week to raise funds for her political campaign coffers

Darn. Guess we'll just have to grin and bear it.

Pass the popcorn, please.

8 posted on 10/15/2005 5:53:19 PM PDT by NautiNurse
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To: blam

And he is right, neither Santorum nor Hillary should do such.


9 posted on 10/15/2005 5:53:56 PM PDT by sonsofliberty2000
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To: Andy from Beaverton

Well Bono can kiss his butt goodbye...anyone who 'disagrees with the clinton slime' don't continue to make it in the real world...ie: Vince Foster; Jennifer Flowers; etc....


10 posted on 10/15/2005 5:54:13 PM PDT by HarleyLady27 (My ? to libs: "Do they ever shut up on your planet?" "Grow your own DOPE: Plant a LIB!")
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To: blam
When are these holerwud types going to figure out they are being used by this opportunistic, smarmy bitch?
11 posted on 10/15/2005 5:56:47 PM PDT by lawdude (Liberalism is a mental disease.)
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To: Eric in the Ozarks
Welcome to the club, Bono. You just got "Clintoned."

Since he is still alive he only received the second rate Clintooning"

12 posted on 10/15/2005 5:58:39 PM PDT by highlander_UW (I don't know what my future holds, but I know Who holds my future)
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To: blam
"That's the letter U and the numeral 2. The four man band consists of Adam Clayton on bass, Larry Mullen on drums, Dave Evans, nicknamed 'the Edge' on...--this is bull----! Nobody cares! These people are from England, and who gives a s---? Just a lot of wasted names that don't mean diddly s---!"

--Casey Kasem, famed "bad day at the office" tape

13 posted on 10/15/2005 6:01:59 PM PDT by raccoonradio
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To: blam

Bono clearly doesn't understand the Clintons.But then,who can blame him? In order to understand them,one has delve into the deepest depths of human depravity,something that very few do today.


14 posted on 10/15/2005 6:04:19 PM PDT by Gay State Conservative
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To: raccoonradio
I've got a copy of ol' Casey *really* losing it with a tribute to a dead doggie. I mean, he went over the top and kept gaining altitude.
15 posted on 10/15/2005 6:04:53 PM PDT by Prime Choice (E=mc^3. Don't drink and derive.)
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To: lawdude

Hey, be careful, that casts a cloud over us, opportunists....8^)


16 posted on 10/15/2005 6:06:17 PM PDT by ThreePuttinDude (..yep, thats right, I'm an infidel......so what....)
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To: blam
We need a very simple campaign finance law:

No person may donate money or anything else of value to a candidate in a federal election unless the person making the donation is legally registered to vote for the candidate.

17 posted on 10/15/2005 6:07:29 PM PDT by isthisnickcool (Don't get stuck on stupid - Lt. General Honore)
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To: blam
Susan Estrich should not be a paid commentater on FNC. Since she is a political shrill for HRC.

Off goes the TV whenever she comes on.....and that goes for Hannity when he interviews on on his radio show.

18 posted on 10/15/2005 6:07:34 PM PDT by mickie
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To: raccoonradio
--Casey Kasem, famed "bad day at the office" tape

From time to time,Imus plays a tape similar to this of Kasem berating somebody in the booth about a letter that he got from one of his little teenie bopper listeners.

19 posted on 10/15/2005 6:07:55 PM PDT by Gay State Conservative
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To: blam
The Irish rock star, Bono, has been angered by Senator Hillary Clinton's use of a U2 concert this week to raise funds for her political campaign coffers...

Got news for ya, Bono ol' boy...Hillary cares about one person and one person only: herself. Everyone else is a distant second. And Her Royal Crustiness she doesn't give a good rip if she has to lie, cheat, steal, leave the toilet seat up, or kill to get what she wants.

She got what she wanted, Bono. And no, she doesn't care that it bothers you. Remember, she considers herself entitled to take things from you "for the common good."

20 posted on 10/15/2005 6:08:52 PM PDT by Prime Choice (E=mc^3. Don't drink and derive.)
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