For some reason, Justin’s post of P.J. O’Rourke’s 1993 Cato speech reminded me of the first time I met José Piñera. Maybe that’s because it was just a few days before I met P.J. for the second time . . .

In 1997, when I was an intern at the Cato Institute, a few interns were getting fitted for tuxes to wear to Cato’s 20th anniversary dinner. José Piñera had just arrived in town, and also needed to be fitted for a tux, and as it happened, he and I were fitted at the same time. After someone took our measurements and headed to grab a few things off a rack for us to try on, José looked over at me, smiling, and said, “To look well. What is more important?”

The first thing that went through my mind was, “Wow. José Piñera sounds exactly like Ricardo Montalban.”