WASHINGTON – Rock star Bono brought the house down at a prayer breakfast with President Bush yesterday when he began: “Please join me in praying that I don’t say something we all regret.”
The U2 frontman added: “If you’re wondering what I’m doing at the prayer breakfast, so am I. I’m certainly not here as a man of the cloth – and that’s not cloth, this is leather.”
Bono, an outspoken advocate of fighting AIDS and helping the poor, made an impassioned plea for the U.S. government to give an additional 1 percent of the U.S. budget (about $26 billion) to the world’s poor and said it’s unjust to withhold costly drugs that can save lives.
“God will not accept that. Mine won’t. Will yours?” he said.
Bush didn’t comment on the Irish rocker’s plea for extra money but praised him, saying: “The thing about this good citizen of the world is he’s used his position to get things done. You’re an amazing guy, Bono. God bless you.”