If ever I begin to doubt my proficiency at critiquing the media, all I have to do is head over to NewsBusters to see what Noel Sheppard is up to, and I immediately feel better.

Today, Sheppard is upset at Bono for writing “a love letter” to Bill Clinton as part of the “Time 100,” Time's annual list of the world's most influential people, and is particularly piqued that Bono credited Clinton for having “a huge hand in slashing the price of AIDS drugs for people who couldn't afford them.” The problem, according to Sheppard, is that George W. Bush did that too, and Bono didn't mention it:

Slashing the price of AIDS drugs in Africa. Hmm. Who did that?

Oh. That's right. It was former President George W. Bush.

[...]

This program was so successful that CBS's “60 Minutes” did a piece earlier this month calling it “something so momentous that it is saving millions of lives and generating goodwill for America around the world.” An AIDS doctor in Uganda was quoted as saying, “There has never been a rescue mission, a mission of mercy of this magnitude that has produced such magnanimous results.”

Yet, roughly three weeks later, Bono is praising Clinton for slashing the price of AIDS drugs in Africa?

To be sure, the rock star did mention Bush's name in his Time love letter -- “That's why he was a brilliant choice to coordinate U.S. support earlier this year, along with President George W. Bush” -- but Clinton got all the AIDS relief credit.

Unfortunately, despite Bush's fabulous work on a cause Bono himself championed, this wasn't the first time the rock star snubbed the 43rd President.

So Noel Sheppard thinks that Bono, when tasked with writing a short piece recognizing the influence of Bill Clinton, should have spent more time talking about George W. Bush.