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.
I could care less about these 'pop icons' and 'celebs', but one is particularly naive to think that ANY politician would not use each and every opportunity to make $$$s for an election campaign.
Liberals, with their distorted rose-colored glass, dreamy view of things I would imagine are most susceptible to these myopic views of reality.
Politicians, in the main, are scurrilous individuals. Though you well may be correct in your contention, they avoid the problem by "giving away the tickets" in exchange for a "voluntary donation" thereby legally avoiding the appearance of acting as a "seller" or "agent".
They do all that the law allows and when they find something the law doesn't allow..., they find away around the law. That's why when you have 90% of your politicians at the national level who are lawyers, the old suggestion of starting society all over again begins with the first step of "killing all the lawyers". Impractical and imprudent, but a most desirable notion.
Bono, did she tell you that you'd "better put some ice on that"?
Oh this is rich! You mean to tell he didn't know she would DO something like that??? This is a Clinton you know.
Unfortunately, you're incorrect and have UNDERestimated them, the politicians. Read my post #42 on this thread.
Wouldn't that be scalping?
I'm anxiously awaiting waiting for the John Lennon widow to marry this clown (that is after she had secretly married Cher's ex just before he made an acquaintance with a tall pine tree) and become Yoko Ono Bono Bono!
I prefer people who just keep their mouths shut and sing.
D'oh!
yes, and Negativland took the tape and integrated it into their CD single "U2" (which was sued out of existence).
"This is the last g--d--- time, I want someone to use his
f---in' brain to not come out of a fast record when I gotta talk about some dog dying!"
Chad Griffin is Rob Reiner’s political consultant, the same Rob Reiner who has been mentioned as a possible candidate against Schwarzenegger in 2006.
Chad Griffin, the Los Angeles-based political strategist
Oct. 11, 2005
The Hillary tour
Clinton returns to Hollywood turf
Hosting the Friday-evening fund-raiser with Rob and Michele Reiner are political consultant Chad Griffin and former Clinton and Gore campaign staffers Laura Hartigan and Mona Pasquil.
September 22, 2005
Reiner Strategist (Chad Griffin) behind gay attacks on Schwarzenegger.
--- WARNING --- LANGUAGE! ---
http://www.negativland.com/bookburn.html
--- WARNING --- LANGUAGE! ---
about halfway down the page:
http://bloopers.hankhayes.com/
clips:
http://www.celebrityrants.com/cdstore.html?merchantID=celebrityrants#
Yeah, and Bonor seemingly had no problems at all keeping his nose firmly inserted in all the Clintons' lower-body orifices when he was looking for notoriety for his feed africa scam.
I agree. He walks the walk and understands that when people come to his concerts they don't want to be ambushed.
Good for him.
did susan get a facelift along with her new hairdo? I can't look long enough to tell for sure.
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