Someone needs to give Sir Bob Geldof a call. The Guardian (UK) has shifted the goalposts on Live-8, now claiming that the effort to rescue Africa from poverty now includes a Kyoto-style global-warming plan to force drastic energy reductions on the United States. In an article on Bush on the eve of the G8 summit, the Guardian conflates the two issues into one push:

George Bush sounds a warning today to those hoping for a significant deal on Africa and climate change at Wednesday's G8 summit, making clear that when he arrives at Gleneagles he will dedicate his efforts to putting America's interests first.

The president will adopt a stance starkly at odds with the idealism professed by the performers at Saturday's Live 8 concerts around the world and their television audience of 2 billion.

"I go to the G8 not really trying to make [Tony Blair] look bad or good; but I go to the G8 with an agenda that I think is best for our country."

I have written rather extensively on the Live-8 effort, and support its goals while questioning whether its plan can get aid past the dictators and kleptocrats of Africa. However, that support comes to a screeching halt if it means imposing Kyoto controls on the US. I suspect that many of my fellow bloggers on the right would feel exactly the same, especially since we've still not seen specifics on Live-8 plans to force reform as a prerequisite for aid.

Fortunately, however, Geldof doesn't connect the two issues. In fact, nowhere on their site does global warming get a mention, let alone an argument. The Guardian doesn't want to acknowledge what Geldof and Bono have already stated -- that Bush has done more for Africa than any preceding US president. Instead, they want to tie his Kyoto position falsely to African aid (using that debunked 0.16%-of-GDP argument again) to paint Bush's protection of American interests as a slap in the face of the Live-8 concerts and enthusiasm.

The Guardian indulges in intellectual and political dishonesty, and uses the Live-8 effort to do so. Geldof and Bono should give their Guardian friends a call and tell them to sod off.

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