Trib Blog wrote:
The president of Peru joked about stopping for gasoline on his way to lunch in Washington today. "We had to refuel the car on my way," said President Alan Garcia, "and much to my surprise, I realized that the fuel and gas station both belong to Venezuela."
The free-trading president’s joke about the Citgo gas stations of Venezuela’s capitalist-baiting and George Bush-bashing Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was intended for calculated irony with an audience listening to his plea for free trade between the United States and Peru. It worked, much to the delight of a luncheon audience that also enjoyed Garcia’s report on what Bush had pledged to him this morning at the White House about getting that Peruvian Trade Promotion Agreement to the U.S. Congress for ratification - "as soon as possible," Bush promised his Peruvian counterpart, who made this pointed political observation: "The question is, what Congress?"
The free-trading president’s joke about the Citgo gas stations of Venezuela’s capitalist-baiting and George Bush-bashing Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was intended for calculated irony with an audience listening to his plea for free trade between the United States and Peru. It worked, much to the delight of a luncheon audience that also enjoyed Garcia’s report on what Bush had pledged to him this morning at the White House about getting that Peruvian Trade Promotion Agreement to the U.S. Congress for ratification - "as soon as possible," Bush promised his Peruvian counterpart, who made this pointed political observation: "The question is, what Congress?"