President Bush Talked Into VF Africa Cover By Karl Rove, Bono

It took the combined efforts of Bono and Karl Rove to get President Bush on the cover of Vanity Fair. No small feat, given how critical the magazine has been of . . . well, just about everything about his administration. Guest editor Bono assembled an all-star cast including Bush and Condoleezza Rice for the cover -- actually, 20 different covers -- of the July issue on Africa, which hits newsstands later this week.

The idea was to create a visual chain of VIPs like Muhammad Ali, Oprah Winfrey, Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Barack Obama, George Clooney, Madonna, Brad Pitt and Desmond Tutu-- all linked by their common interest in the continent; the U2 rocker-activist worked personally with Rove to snag Dubya. "Bono's choice, not mine, as you might imagine," writes VF Editor Graydon Carter in the magazine. "He gives the commander in chief high marks on his Africa policies."

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