[FerdieMurphy]

But after the Caracas airport incident, members who advocate closer ties are going to be ''in the margins,''...

We can only hope.

Meanwhile, stay out of Venezuela owned Citgo stations. Don't even buy a gumdrop there!

[SteveMcKing]

100 years ago, the US Navy probably would have sunk the tanker on its own initiative.

I miss the Old School.

[right right]

He's a SOB, and he's not our SOB!!!

[groovejedi]

I am currently boycotting Citgo... I never liked them anyway.

[Alia]

The Venezuelan foreign ministry said in a statement that the arrival was ''delayed a few more minutes'' because the airport's VIP terminal was reserved for the Spanish defense minister, who was in Caracas to sign a weapons deal that the U.S. opposes.

Translation: Insult to and upon initial snub...

[Brilliant]

"not letting them disembark from their aircraft for several hours."



Chavez was probably still recovering from a night of shorting coke, and did not want to be seen in an intoxicated condition.

[economist-student]

I think we should do the same to chavistas traveling to the US with diplomatic passports. (Venezuelan diplomatic passports don't require a visa, while ordinary passports do)

[Constitutionalist Conservative]

Why are members of Congress conducting American foreign policy? Were they there with the blessing of the Bush administration? Shades of the bad old days when certain congressfolks were "helping out" by being willing mouthpieces of the Sandinistas.

[AmericanChef]

-`The vast majority of members of Congress are going to take this as a slap in the face.''-

This will give our misrepresentatives a fine opportunity to perfect their puckering up abilities. I'm sure a little slap won't affect their decision to mingle with American enemies.

[TChris]

Yes, yes... More "dialogue" with communists is clearly the answer. After all, it has always worked so well in the past. ;-)

[Wolfstar]

The delegation, led by Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill., the powerful chairman of the House International Relations Committee, arrived in Caracas on Monday afternoon, hoping to find ways to ease rising tensions between Venezuela and the United States.

Isn't there some federal law that supposedly bars Americans from conducting their own foreign policy with other governments? If so, why is it never enforced?

We have all kinds of elected and former elected officials running around like ninnies trying to make their own foreign policy when the Constitution give sole power over foreign policy to the president.

[M. Thatcher]

the office of Vice President José Vicente Rangel

Figures.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

***.....The Hyde delegation's visit came just days before a legislative election in Venezuela.

The two sides, according to U.S. officials, started bickering over the group's agenda, which included a meeting with opposition leaders and the Súmate nongovernmental group. Venezuelan officials accuse Súmate of seeking to topple the government.

MEETING TIME

The Venezuelans wanted to know when the Súmate meeting was to take place, something the U.S. refused to divulge, fearing the Venezuelan government might ''sandbag'' the agenda, said a senior U.S. Embassy official, who agreed to be interviewed only if his name was not revealed because of the delicate nature of bilateral relations.

......''After waiting for two hours, it was clear that they did not want us there,'' ***

___________________________________

Well, it looks like Chavez sandbagged the agenda.