Bono is no supporter of the NRA’s mission statement, but he does cop to admiring how effective the lobbying group is and hopes to emulate that success with his own ONE anti-poverty organization.
“Whatever you feel about the NRA – and I don’t like them very much – they’re a very well-organized group and we want ONE to be the NRA for the world’s poor,” Bono said during a black-tie dinner last week hosted by the Economic Club of Chicago.
“So the ONE campaign – if you’re getting in the way of legislation that will make lives easier for the world’s most vulnerable populations, we’re gonna find out where you live [and] we’re gonna camp outside your office.”
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Bono showed his bipartisan bona fides when he again praised former President George W. Bush for his work on alleviating AIDS.
“The single biggest intervention in the history of medicine to fight disease was America’s leadership fighting HIV/AIDS, and it was started by President Bush, but it was continued – and this is really critical – by President Obama, and in fact he spent more money on it because he was longer in office,” Bono said.
“And the reason that bipartisan support has – and this is a big thing to say, but I know the math – there’s 22 million people in the poor world, in the developing world in Africa, largely, on antiviral drugs because of a bipartisan push, and Americans need to be reminded that what they can do when they work together.”
Bono’s been making the rounds since U2 finished its world tour last month. He was also in New York last week as the guest of honor at the Concern Worldwide dinner.
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