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CNN Larry King Live

Interview with Bono

Aired October 13, 2006 - 21:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LARRY KING, CNN HOST (voice-over): Tonight, Bono, he's hanging out with the president on Air Force One and joining Oprah for a major shopping spree. Why do world leaders, even the pope, make time to see this Irish rock star? How come he gets more serious stuff done than a lot of politicians?

Bono is here with Bobby Shriver. They're men with an urgent global mission and they're aiming to save millions of lives and you can help; Bono, next on LARRY KING LIVE.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Good evening and welcome to what we consider a very special edition of LARRY KING LIVE, our special guests, both in New York, are Bono, the acclaimed musician, lead singer for U2, global philanthropist and activist, co-creator of Product RED.

It's a groundbreaking initiative designed to bring new money into the global fund and help fight AIDS in Africa; and joining him is Bobby Shriver, who created the Product RED campaign with Bono. He and Bono also co-founded DATA, Debt, AIDS, Trade and Africa.

Bono, what got you interested particularly in this project?

BONO, CO-FOUNDER (RED) CAMPAIGN AND DATA: Well, you know, with Bobby we've been, you know, banging (INAUDIBLE) and tramping the corridors of, you know Congress and the capitals around the world on extreme poverty issues. But we were realizing that all the work that we're doing there, all the development stuff can be undone by this tiny little virus, HIV/AIDS.

It is shocking to think that it's 5,000 Africans are dying every day of a preventable, treatable disease. That's like two twin towers a day or a tsunami every month and they're dying because they can't get the drugs we can get in any corner store. So, we were trying to figure out a way of raising money for the global fund, which gets the drugs to the people in Africa who don't have them.

And, also we're trying to -- how do we create heat in the shopping malls? I mean we've got the churches and the student activists with the one campaign. There's two and a half million American have signed up for that. But how do you get to where people are where they live and how do you get -- how do you access the firepower of corporate America and the creative genius in their marketing departments? So, that's where Product RED started.

KING: Bobby, do we live under the presumption, I guess in America we do that AIDS is no longer a big deal that people live a long time with it and it's not the factor it was?

BOBBY SHRIVER, CO-FOUNDER (RED) CAMPAIGN AND DATA: Probably, Larry, you're right. I know in many of the gay communities that's a big concern, particularly among young men. They figure that they can take a pill and survive even if they are HIV positive.

But, as you know, in Africa people don't have this medicine at all. In fact, many people don't know that there is such a medicine, so part of what these RED phones, when people buy these RED phones or these RED shirts, we get the money and we buy the drugs for these folks and it's super, super important that they continue to live, look after their families.

We don't -- we have ten million orphans now, Larry, in Africa, 14 and 15-year-old boys and girls heading households because their parents have died because they don't have these 40-cent medicines. It's just got to stop.

And, as Bono was saying, that's why we've gotten, you know, this is today's "New York Times." I hope I can show this without offending you, Larry, but there's your friend Stephen Spielberg and they bought -- this is an amazing thing.

BONO: Chris Rock.

SHRIVER: Chris Rock bought the back page of every section today of the "New York Times."

KING: I saw it.

SHRIVER: And this kind of communication is the thing that we were never in our marching boots, activist, lobbying, educating thing, we were never able to do this kind of thing.

BONO: Well, we couldn't afford it.

SHRIVER: Send people to a website, joinred.com, and say, you know, "Hey, Chris Rock is working on this." Look at him, fantastic, Stephen Spielberg. I don't know if Stephen's ever done an ad before, I don't know. But look at that, what an amazing thing for him to do that.

KING: Bono, you had a -- Bono, you had a short meeting with President Bush yesterday in Chicago on the ground aboard Air Force One. What happened?

BONO: You know, we were sitting on the ground after launching Product RED in Chicago. We had been on Oprah Winfrey. And, they closed down the airspace. They said the president was trying to leave the country. We said, "This is an outrage." We wanted to complain. They said, "Well, you're going to have to complain to the president." So, we said, "Well there are a lot of things we might want to complain to the president." But let's go see him. And, actually one of the things we wouldn't be complaining about this president is what's happening on AIDS.

And, I want to tell you that America is in the lead on AIDS and it's great to be able to meet him and tell him that his leadership has really counted. There is, of course, great support in the Democratic Party also on these things. There's bipartisan support.

But, I think, you know, it's good to be able to show him that it's not just all government money that's going to fight this deadly little virus but the private sector is important.

And, he had always said, "Why is the private sector not getting involved in the global fund?" You know, we want them to spend more on the global fund. And he's always been challenging us back, "Get the private sector to do it." So, we went onboard Air Force One, showed him these products, said we want to see him out jogging wearing his Gap tee shirt, you know.

SHRIVER: There you go, Larry. We're going to have him with -- he's not going to wear "Desired" probably. He'll wear "Inspired." Or, what was the other one, "Perspired." Maybe we'll have him wearing one that says "Perspired."

KING: Are you guys -- are you guys surprised in the area, we don't imagine you're great fans of him generally politically, are you surprised that in the area of AIDS he's come through?

BONO: Well, you know, let me say on extreme poverty it's not clear, you know, who your friends are sometimes. I mean it's true that in the early days on the left they were more supportive of the fight against AIDS. But now you have a conservative president leading the world on AIDS.

But say also on trade, you know, trade is probably the biggest problem facing the continent of Africa. If they could get back to the level of global trade they had in the mid-'70s, it would dwarf all the aid from all over the world that's going to that continent now.

So, getting trade rules re-described to be fairer for the world's poor, sometimes on the left they go missing on you there, you know. And so, it's not clear left or right. We've always with DATA just treated people exactly the same.

And, of course, I come from a labor home. I come from the north side of Dublin and, you know, there are many things many politicians do whom I meet that I don't agree with but I only have to agree with them on one thing and that's that they put the world's poor at the center of -- center stage.

KING: Bobby.

SHRIVER: Larry, one of the interesting things can I just say on that point about the Republicans, one of the interesting things we've seen with them is this emphasis on effectiveness and making sure that the money is well spent and that kind of discipline for the American people to know that the money that they are giving, and they're giving the most of any country in the world in this AIDS fight that that money is being monitored by Republicans who are watching for a rate of return on investment. That's a very good thing.

BONO: That must be hard for a Democrat like you to say.

KING: Yes.

SHRIVER: I have to give my props where they're due. They've done a great job.

(CROSSTALK)

KING: Hold it one second, Bono. Where, Bobby, do we buy these RED products?

SHRIVER: You buy them in every Gap store today. In fact, we're having a bit of a rush on the Gap stores here in New York. They're all sold out of the shirts and the other products there. This incidentally, Larry is a Gap RED Product, so not all RED products are red. They just have a red thing here.

KING: This is one day only?

SHRIVER: No, no, no. They're going to be on sale for five years, five years.

KING: Oh but it started today.

SHRIVER: And these shoes are going to be available in the Gap today. The Motorola RED phone at the Sprint stores in about two weeks, these RED razors will be available in all Sprint stores in the United States.

KING: Why did you pick the color red?

SHRIVER: It's the color of emergency, Larry. We always tell people it's an emergency that 6,000 people are dying every day from a treatable disease and they all nod their heads and then don't act like it's an emergency. So, we want them to know that it is an emergency and we're acting like it's an emergency. We're here working to get this stuff going on and they can do it when they're in the store.

BONO: Yes, people need to call us.

SHRIVER: You know, everybody is buying these phones and iPods and tee shirts and jeans anyway so why not buy a RED one. That's the idea of RED.

KING: We'll take a break and when we come back we'll ask Bono what inspires him to do all that he does. Bono and Bobby Shriver are with us. This is a historic day, the beginning of Product RED, going to go on a long time at all the Gap stores. You can buy lots of things and help a lot of people much less fortunate than you. We'll be right back. Don't go away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: We're back with Bono and Bobby Shriver. Bono, why do you do all that you do? What inspires you to do -- you raise more money probably than any single individual in the world, why?

BONO: Well, you know, to be fair it's not my money. It's my time and time is precious to me. And, you know, we raise money in DATA from governments but we also now with RED will be raising money through, you know...

SHRIVER: The malls.

BONO: ...you know, the shopping malls. And, again, this is not -- we're not asking the American people to put their hands in their pocket. They just have to upgrade their choice, choose a RED product and those companies will raise the money.

KING: But why do you do all this?

BONO: Well, you know, I'm sure there's a complicated response to that and that, you know, maybe I haven't had time to figure out. I started off during Live Aid in the mid-'80s. U2 played on Live Aid and I kind of got caught up in this and ended up in Africa working in an orphanage in Ethiopia during the famine there.

And, I certainly saw things there that I wish I hadn't and had experiences I wish I and my wife had not had. And, you know, you say you won't forget but we did. We got back to our lives. But always in the back of my head I kind of had a feeling that this kind of poverty is not there just by accident.

There's a sort of structural nature of this and I started to discover that, for instance, that Africa was paying much more back to the western world servicing old debts than it was ever getting, receiving in aid monies and I thought this was mad.

And, you know, we raised $250 million or something at Live Aid back in the mid-'80s. Well Africa is paying that every few weeks back to us. So, I started to see things through a slightly different prism, one that you might call justice rather than charity.

It offended my sense of fairness is probably the answer to your question. And we were talking earlier about this, myself and Bobby, him being a Shriver/Kennedy there's Irish blood there and me, somewhere in the back of your head there has to be a sense that as Irish people we faced a very brutal famine, which was not as people often describe as a tater blight. It was actually -- it was organized by the then oppressive British forces in Ireland that we couldn't get to the food.

And, I started, you know, any Irish person has this folk memory of famine and, you know, as a result of that famine, you know, you have, you know, you have all the policemen in New York now. SHRIVER: You have Shrivers in California.

BONO: And Catholics in office.

KING: Wait a minute.

SHRIVER: You got (INAUDIBLE).

KING: Are you saying it's in your genes?

BONO: I'm saying, well they're Gap jeans today and as you're walking down the street feeling good in your Gap jeans you know that some people...

KING: (INAUDIBLE). Bobby.

SHRIVER: Yes, sir.

KING: What do you think drives Bono?

SHRIVER: I think (INAUDIBLE), Larry, I was telling the story earlier about I asked my mother a little while ago why she really started the Special Olympics, which as you know she started.

KING: Sure do.

SHRIVER: And she said rage. And I think, you know, there's a lot of that in B. He probably wouldn't say that and there's a certain amount of that in me. It's just the unfairness of poor people or vulnerable people being bullied there's something very offensive about that. If you see someone being bullied you really want to stop it.

And, you know, mentally challenged people were being bullied when my mom started that work. People with AIDS in Africa right now are being bullied by us not giving them that medicine, you know.

KING: Your uncle, Bobby, said once in a historic quote, "Life isn't fair."

SHRIVER: Yes, life's not fair, Larry, but if you see a big guy beating up a little guy and you're a big guy, you go off and knock the big guy off the little guy. That's not fair or unfair. That's just, you know, you're a bully, get off.

So, that's maybe where the Irish people and those who traveled over here in the 19th Century and those who were born in the 20th Century, you know, we are mad when we see people getting bullied and, you know, it's just not right. It's not American. I mean that's the cool thing.

And we were reading this poll the other day that the number one movie star, Larry, in America today is still John Wayne. He hasn't had a movie in the theaters, as you know, in 40 years. And why is that?

You know, people like, Americans like that guy who just goes out and stops injustice and does it, you know, doesn't wait for the government to do it. We just go out and stop it ourselves and that's what we're doing here with this RED stuff. We're going to (INAUDIBLE).

KING: Bono, can you see progress in Africa?

BONO: Oh, my goodness, yes.

KING: Yes.

BONO: I mean since 2002 when we started DATA, I think there's been another seven democracies. That's now 31 democracies in Africa. Everywhere you go in Africa, by the way, I just was there a few months ago, you find, you know, Chinese people in the bars, you know.

There's money to be made in Africa and people sense that there's a strategic value in Africa in the war against terror. You know, there's, you know, it's 40 percent Muslim. It's a giant continent and they like Americans. They like Irish people. And let's be with them in their moment of need.

And, you know, what Bobby was saying there about, you know, it's not American, well as an Irish person let me just tell you for a second what I think of America. You know, America's not just a country. It's an idea that strikes me and that idea is somehow bound up in the idea of equality.

It's in your Declaration. You know, in the Declaration of Independence there's a remarkable poetic track but, you know, down toward the end of it, it says, you know there are all these men signed on, committing treason I believe when they signed the Declaration...

KING: That's right.

BONO: ...but they pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor to the idea of equality. Now, I'm not pledging my life or maybe may I say not even my sacred fortune but I'm certainly ready to pledge my honor to it and that seems an American idea. And right now these are dangerous times. For me it's very worrisome that people don't like America and I am offended when people don't like America.

KING: Hold it right there, Bono. Let me get -- I'm going to get a break and come right back with Bono and Bobby Shriver. This is a big day the start of Product RED. Don't go away.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BONO: I don't know why I sang there. I just saw these people who really I'm sure hadn't a clue who I was probably being told, you know, when you do this, this is a Bono song, a U2 song and I just felt for them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: Bono and our friend Oprah went shopping yesterday, a Product RED shopping spree. What was that like, Bono?

BONO: Well, she's...

SHRIVER: A good shopper.

BONO: She's a good shopper. And, you know, this is like, you know, it was like running around Piccadilly with the Queen of England, you know, being in Chicago with Oprah. And, you know, Oprah has followed through on her convictions and her concern for the continent of Africa has led to some great actions.

She was just excited that this wasn't the usual kind of worthy thing. We weren't weighed down here by worthiness. It was fun. It was a sexy side to RED going shopping and meeting people where they are in the malls, you know. She was great. She was really something. We love her.

KING: Bobby, do you think celebrities have a responsibility to do things like Bono does?

SHRIVER: I think all Americans, Larry, have a desire. I don't think it's -- and we grew up with that responsibility idea. But I found in my own life that it's a desire. It actually makes me feel better. And, I think Oprah and some of the other people who are working with us on these projects, Penelope Cruz, the great Spanish actress, people really want to feel that.

You see with Bono walking down the street here people come up to him and say, you know, "I want to help you," you know. They say, "Sign my record," but they also want to help because they know he and his movement of people in the One campaign and around the world are trying to do the right thing.

There's a tremendous desire in people to do the right thing. So, I more like to think of it that way than responsibility because that feels a little worthy and a little, you know, oh, whereas if you just do it, it's a joyful work to be able to do a good thing.

KING: Bono, do you still run into people who say, "Yes, we got problems at home though?"

BONO: Yes, you know, that's for sure but they're a different kind of problem and, you know, I've seen people cueing up to die outside of (INAUDIBLE), people cueing up to die, three in a bed. Recently, I saw six in a bed, people underneath the bed and just it's a different kind of problem.

This is their moment of need. This is a great royal people, the Africans. They're entrepreneurial people. They are being -- they're being -- it's a perfect storm has come against them of disease and poverty and I just think this is our moment to show what we're about.

You know, as I was saying earlier dangerous time we're living in, this is the moment where we should show the world why we have amassed all this wealth and power that this is the moment for showing what our innovation and technology and pharmaceuticals can do. We can really do this and we can change the world for millions of people who are living in squalor but maybe more importantly in these dangerous times we can change the way those people see us and that might be critical if not more important.

SHRIVER: Larry, can I just follow up on that?

KING: Sure.

SHRIVER: And show you the shoe, which looks like a very modern thing. This cloth is dyed by women in Mali with mud. It's not dye. Converse went down and bought this fabric from these people. They burst into tears when they realized how much fabric Converse was going to buy. These are for sale in shoe stores and in Gap.

And this shows you that people in Africa who are dying of HIV are not just sort of, you know, poverty stricken people who can't do anything. They're artistic people. They've been making this kind of genius stuff for 1,000 years. So, we learned from them and were moved by them, the cleverness.

And someone was asking me the other day, if we had Keith Harring (ph), the great New York painter, design these shoes and I said, "No, these are designed by women in Mali, who have been doing this for 1,000 years." And the people were like, "Whoa, really?" And, yes, there they are.

KING: Other companies involved include Giorgio Armani and Motorola, American Express, Myspace.com in the United Kingdom, Apple, lots more to talk about with the great Bono and Bobby Shriver. They're involved in this extraordinary campaign, Product RED, a groundbreaking initiative designed to bring new money into the global fund and help fight AIDs in Africa; back with Bono and Bobby right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: We're back with Bono and Bobby Shriver, they're both in New York. This campaign, Bono, started in Great Britain, didn't it? How did it do there?

BONO: Yes, it's just getting going really there. There we have Amex, which is really great. We've got a RED credit card. Let me show it to you. You know, these credit cards usually tell people what you have, you know, whether it's black or gold.

This is -- we like to think this one is about who you are. And we think there's a movement, it's certainly clear in the UK where we call it conscious consumerism, where people are just -- they realize they have power in their pocket, that they can make these giant corporations do what they want by deciding where they're going to purchase.

And it's starting in the UK. It's only actually even in the UK now is -- we're just really getting going and just getting the full stock in and the Gap and Armani and Motorola. It's pretty exciting though.

KING: Bobby, how do we know I buy a pair of shoes, $30, how much of that $30 goes directly to help AIDS in Africa.

SHRIVER: That's a great question, Larry and the answer thank god is 100 percent. We never, that is, our organization never touches that money. It goes directly to the Global Fund, which is a bank in Switzerland that lends money to countries or grants money to countries against very strict criteria.

So people can feel the money is well handled. A very low overhead at the Global Fund and they invest in countries. The first $10 million that we earned in this has now been invested in Rwanda and Swaziland. And they're doing great things, buying the medicine. Two pills a day if you take these two pills, one in the morning and one at night, 40 cents, you stay alive. That's the thing people don't know. That's what we're using the money to buy.

KING: Sorry, Bono, go ahead.

BONO: Sorry, Larry. You're in this building in the Time Warner building we are and there's a canteen. There's people sitting around. While I've been in the canteens in Africa with AIDS activists. Now these are the heroes running up the burning building, these are the firemen running up the burning building.

And to discover that they don't have access to these drugs was a real shock to me. And I was there once when a course of drugs arrived that were for one person. And to hear these noble people come up with reasons why they shouldn't be the person who got the drugs, why somebody else should, you've got two children or you're younger, no, you're older, was a real moment for me.

And I thought, wow, the 21st century, we've got these drugs over here. They cost, thanks to Bill Clinton, they're down as little as 40 cents a day. And here's this -- here's just this huge hemorrhaging of human life. It just -- it's just bewildering really that we're not just getting the drugs to the people. We're trying, as I say, America's in the lead there. But it's still -- we're still losing the battle in the fight against aids. That's one of the reasons why we want to associate with winners, you know, people who are great at getting your attention, these big corporations.

KING: Doesn't Bobby, doesn't the Global Fund aid other things?

SHRIVER: Yes, it does. It funds tuberculosis and malaria, which are also giant killers, as you know Larry, of poor people. But we focused our stuff on AIDS because we think that this medicine and the delivery of it is really important.

KING: So product RED, Bobby, is AIDS only, right?

SHRIVER: Yes, sir.

KING: More with Bono and Bobby Shriver on Product RED. It's back next on LARRY KING LIVE, don't go away. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: We're back with Bono and Bobby Shriver. Why, Bono, did you describe this as punk capitalism?

BONO: Well, there's a bit of punk rock about it because it's really up front and kind of in your face. And it's, you know, we have this thing, I grew up, I'm in a band, and I've had kind of a little -- I'm always looking a little bit sideways at big business and wondering, they're out for profits, blah, blah, blah.

Then you start to realize that there's some very smart people working these corporations and how would we get these really smart people to work for the world's poor? I mean, as well as getting the drugs to the people who really need them, these people now have Steve Jobs working for them, these people now have Trey Laird at Gap, who's just a brilliant marketing genius. These people have all the design team in Motorola.

KING: There was a time, Bono when people who preceded you, rock stars, disdained consumerism, wouldn't go talk to corporate America, didn't like the corporate idea. What changed?

BONO: Well, in my experience, some of the people who were so anti-the man weren't paying their road crew and wouldn't talk to people on the street.

So I don't care about what came before and you know, you should pick interesting enemies because they define you. Your enemies define you. And it's very easy to pick a fight with, you know, corporate America. And corporate America is responsible for a lot of blandness, as you walk down High Street.

But corporate America is also responsible for the iPod or the RED Razr. And so I try to look at things differently from my predecessors and I just want to, you know, I just want a fresh slate. I don't take that baggage. I've been given a great life because the music industry paid U2 very well. We were never ripped off.

So I don't have those stories that I can tell you where you know, we were taken advantage of. They didn't happen. Maybe that's embarrassing. Maybe I should make some up. But we had a great time here in America, U2. I believe in this country. And I believe it's very American to say, you know, that might be a high hill to climb, but it's worth it.

I mean, Bobby's uncle I guess it was, in 1963 said, JFK said, by the end of the decade, we're going to put a man on the moon. Now, they weren't polling, you know, what was upper most in the mind of the United States' electorate. He led and the world followed. And we in Ireland and all over the world looked and went, wow what was that these Americans are crazy. They can put a man on the moon.

And you know, this is -- that's the America I love. And I think we're not asking President Bush or Tony Blair or whoever it is, we're not asking them to put a man on the moon. In fact, we're asking to put mankind back on earth. We can be the generationing that ends extreme poverty. By that, I mean stupid poverty. You know what that is, Larry. There's always going to be poverty, but we don't have to put up with this abuse of our humanity. We really don't. This is the 21st century. This is America. This is LARRY KING LIVE.

KING: Bobby, according to America's research group, 23-to-28 percent of shoppers respond to campaigns that direct a part of the purchasing dollars to a cause. Do you consider that high?

SHRIVER: I consider it a number that's going to grow. And I just want to say, Larry, on the corporate America point, you know, we always considered ourselves as having clients.

So when we're trying to buy this medicine for people, basically, anywhere where people are not wildly unethical, we will go to get the money. I know when Bono first started working in Washington, people felt we shouldn't go see Senator Jesse Helms. They thought we at some certain point shouldn't go see certain other people, but we went to see them anyway because we thought they could help us.

So it's a very nice thing to say you won't deal with people if your client isn't dying, as Bono said, six to a bed. If your clients are dying six to a bed, you'd better go get the money and get them the medicine.

KING: Let me get a break and we'll be back with more of Bono and Bobby Shriver. Product RED, and it started today. Don't go away.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Coming up at the top of the hour on "360," breaking news on the escalating crisis with North Korea. The Pentagon confirmation within the past few hours that radioactivity has been detected around the site. North Korea says it conducted a nuclear test. The story developing right now. We're just starting to see reaction from Washington, as well as around the world. We'll bring you the latest.

And details on another Republican scandal exploding on Capitol Hill today. The White House trying to distance itself from the repercussions. The question is, can they back away far enough before the November elections? All that at the top of the hour on "360" in 15 minutes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: Bono, you performed in the New Orleans Superdome two weeks ago. What was that like?

BONO: That was pretty cool. The Edge got us all there and brought Green Day there. And he's got a thing called Music Rising, which is to get cash back into the hands of the musicians who lost their instruments in New Orleans. We had a real time of it. That was pretty amazing.

KING: Did you go down when Katrina, right after Katrina happened? BONO: No, I did not.

KING: What did you make of what you saw then this time?

BONO: You know, I saw a city, you know, rebuilding. I saw a city still angry at the bureaucracy that stops them really finishing that build. But also saw people really determined to come through, and that was inspiring.

KING: Bobby, what does the -- does the Foley scandal give you pause? You're always interested in politics with the family you're in.

SHRIVER: I -- I'm more interested, Larry, as you know in trying to do the right thing and start stuff up. I feel badly for everybody involved in a bad thing like that. So you know, I -- I'm interested in getting stuff done.

As you know, the Shrivers, my dad ran for president later in his life. But really we were always about trying to start stuff, the Peace Corps, Head Start, Special Olympics, you know and the RED campaign. You know, we're the starters of the family.

And so I feel bad for anybody involved in that thing and I hope that more good people will come into politics. I mean, the fact that people don't feel that they can go into elective office and make a difference is a concern to our country. We need the best people in public office. There's a lot at stake. They're the lives of these people in Africa at stake in public office, education in our country is at stake.

We're graduating 75,000 engineers in the United States this year and they're graduating two million in China. Of our 75,000, 40,000 are foreign born. So you know, if America's going to be what America was in the 20th century, if we're going to be that in the 21st century, we've got to get busy and we need leadership in public office and good people.

KING: How is your dad?

SHRIVER: He's cheerful. He has Alzheimer's. It's a struggle. But, the good news is that he's very cheerful. He and my mom still live in Potomac, Maryland, right outside of DC and my mom is still harassing my brother, who's running the Special Olympics and calls me up every day and says, you ought to get onto yourself, Bobby. Have you called that guy I told to you call yesterday? I mean, why didn't you do this? You ought to tell Bono, he should talk about that. And give me his number. I'm going to call him right now and give him some suggestions.

KING: How is your mom, by the way? We had a scare about her, didn't way?

SHRIVER: We did, yes, she did have a scare. She was out at Maria's conference and she hurt her knee. Last year when she was out there she had a stroke. I'll tell you a funny Oprah story. She had a thing about a year and a half ago and I drove her up to the hospital in Boston, checked her in there, and it was on the news there she was very sick.

And somehow or another, Oprah saw this. I don't know if I told you this and phoned me, found me in the Holiday Inn there. The phone rang at 1:00 in the morning. And she said, how are you doing? She goes, how's it going? I said, oh, how did you found me here? She goes, well I heard she was in this hospital and there are three hotels within a mile and I called you here and how are you doing?

And I said, well, she's da, da, da. Oprah said to me, I'm not asking you about how she's doing. She's going to live forever. I'm asking you how you're doing.

BONO: Well that's for sure.

KING: Bono...

SHRIVER: She's going to live forever.

KING: Bono, how did you and Bobby come together?

BONO: Well, you -- Eunice. I mean, this is really -- his mother is my favorite woman in the world outside of my family. You know, she is a real inspiration to me and I called her, I said, we're trying to doing this drop the debt campaign there in 1998, I think it was. I said will you help me? She said, you know, you should call Bobby. And I did, and I'm very glad I did.

But that whole family put their shoulder to the door on these issues. It's great to have these ideas. You know, I'm an artistic person. I'm a creative person. But if they're not executed, they don't amount to anything. And so I'm very proud to be on your show with my partner here, Bobby.

KING: We'll be back with our closing moments with Bono and Bobby Shriver right after these messages.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: We're back with Bono and Bobby Shriver and our moments that are left, a couple of other things we'll be covering. Again, Product RED started today. It started in Gap stores. You could be in shopping malls all over America, look for product RED's products sold in various outlets. And when you do, all of that goes to fight AIDS in Africa.

Bobby, I told you this off the air and I'll say it on, I saw a movie today that's a remarkable movie called "Bobby" about your uncle, the late Robert Kennedy. It's the last day of his life, starts at 7:00 in the morning at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles and goes up to his untimely death late at night. Emilio Estevez wrote it and directed it. A whole bunch of stars in it. Have you seen it?

SHRIVER: Have I not. KING: You will be enthralled. You'll walk out of there with a tear in your eye and at the same time, proud of your family and of this country. It's an extraordinary movie. You knew about it, right, of course?

SHRIVER: I did indeed. I've actually spoken to Emilio about it once or twice, so I did know about it. And so I'm thrilled that you like it as much as you do, Larry.

And I hope just going back to my comment a moment ago, I know there are a lot of Robert Kennedys out in the United States now and I hope more of them run for office. I hope they don't get discouraged by the Foley scandal. We need that quality person. People want to vote for people like that. That's the saddest thing to me. People say to me it's so sad that this happened or that happened. And then they say and the saddest thing is I've never had a chance to vote for someone like that in my life.

So we need people, men and women in our country to run for office, to take part in the political process, to talk about AIDS in Africa, to understand what the issues are facing our country in the 21st century. They're big issues, critical importance. We need the smart and gutsy people like uncle Bobby. He was a tough customer, and he got tough stuff done. And that's what we need.

KING: Bono, how long is U2 going to be around? How long are you going to keep on, keeping on?

BONO: You know, that's where I want to be. I don't want to be here on Larry King talking about these issues. I want to be at home in a rehearsal room playing with this band that I've grown up with and writing songs no one's ever heard before, but are going to get out on the radio.

This is the biggest thrill in my life, and you know, I don't come on your shows talking about myself or promoting U2 or anyone's shows. I'm here because these issues are important. But they -- I wish somebody else was doing this stuff, and I want to be with my band. I'm actually sick of not being in U2. You know, it's a thrill to serve the world's poor, and an honor. But my actual gift is I wake up in the morning with melodies in my head and then I sing them. That's what I want to be doing and so I'm going to be with U2 as long as they'll have me in the band.

KING: I think they'll have you awhile.

BONO: Thank you.

KING: And Bono, I salute you and I thank you every much. And Bobby, you guys do great work. Anything we can do to help, just ask.

BONO: Go to the Gap, Larry, and buy these shoes. I want to see them next time I see you in Beverly Hills with these shoes on. All the CNN people want to see you talking on this RED Motorola phone.

KING: I'll be there tomorrow. Thank you Bono, thank you Bobby. Product RED, it began today, look for it everywhere. Bobby Shriver and Bono. "A.C. 360" is next. Thanks for joining us and good night.

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