U2 lead singer Bono made some staggering comments about Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum during the Iowa caucus. Bono said, "I would suggest that Rick Santorum has a kind of Tourette's disease; he will always say the most unpopular thing. But on our issues, he has been a defender of the most vulnerable."
What connection does Bono have with Rick Santorum to say "our" issues? Well, since the 1980s, Bono has been actively involved with generating food aid for Africa. In the 1990s Bono toured the United States to talk with Christian aid organizations--many supported by Republicans--about providing aid to Africa. Rick Santorum sees a logic in the United States providing food aid, farm aid, and AIDS assistance to African countries; if the United States does not assist African nations, they will be "breeding grounds for radical Islamists".
In African nations, some of the most vulnerable people are LGBT populations. The majority of African nations punish people who are openly homosexual, lesbian, or transgender, many times with torture or execution. Heightened persecution of LGBT populations has taken place in African nations where faith-based organizations provided aid, especially Christian organizations funded by the United States and supported by Rick Santorum and Bono.
What Bono does not talk about is U2's move from Ireland to the Netherlands to avoid paying their taxes, tax money that Ireland desperately needs for its own poor people. Charity, indeed, begins at home. Perhaps taxes is another area where Bono and Rick Santorum see eye to eye.
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