Citgo and Spin

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has a message for red states that enjoy buying his gasoline: See ya.

Venezuela-owned Citgo Petroleum Corp. has decided to stop selling gasoline at some 1,800 stations in the United States following calls by President Hugo Chavez to nix contracts that benefit U.S. consumers more than Venezuelans.
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The states where Citgo will stop selling gasoline are: Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma and South Dakota. A limited number of stations in Illinois, Texas, Arkansas and Iowa will also be affected.

With the exception of Minnesota and Illinois, of course, all of these states voted for Bush. That's coincidental—it's also funny, considering Chavez's thick-as-thieves relationship with Vermont and Massachusetts.

Julian Sanchez's 2005 piece on Hugo the Horrible is here; my piece on why Chavez is too silly to ever threaten capitalism is here.