Bless The Man

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper absolutely has my vote. Well, except that I'm not Canadian and can't actually, you know, vote in their elections. But it's the thought that counts. Why? When offered the chance to hobnob with Bono, lead singer of U2, he simply had his people tell Bono's people that he didn't have time for that kind of nonsense.

The Irish rock star turned poverty activist met U.S. President George W. Bush and German Chancellor Angela Merkel on the sidelines of a Group of Eight summit but was told Harper was too busy to talk to him.

Harper, a somewhat wooden figure regularly mocked for his lack of flair, told reporters on Thursday that meeting Bono was not a priority.

"I've got to say that meeting celebrities isn't kind of my shtick, that was the shtick of the previous guy," said Harper in a dig at his Liberal predecessor Paul Martin, who met Bono regularly.

"I hope we do it at some point but my principle focus in public policies is not kind of to meet celebrities," added the prime minister, a Conservative.

Hey, even the mostly reliably left-leaning Guardian is pretty sick of Bono. (I've been tired of his self-righteous, self-important sanctimony for a while now. I'm sure that comment will endear me to a few people.)