Ileana Ros Lehtinen, GOP Congresswoman, Hangs Up On Obama Twice

MIAMI — When a man sounding remarkably like President-elect Barack Obama called a Florida congresswoman Wednesday, she assumed it was a crank call.

So Republican Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen hung up. But, the Miami Herald reports, this was no prank.

"I thought it was one of the radio stations in South Florida playing an incredible, elaborate, terrific prank on me," Ros-Lehtinen told the newspaper. "They got Fidel Castro to go along. They've gotten Hugo Chavez and others to fall for their tricks. I said, 'Oh, no, I won't be punked.'"

The call came about 1 p.m. Obama congratulated her on her re-election, saying he was looking forward to working with her as the ranking Republican member of the House Foreign Affairs committee, Ros-Lehtinen told the newspaper.

The conversation lasted about a minute when she cut Obama off, telling him she wasn't falling for the hoax and that he was a better impersonator than the guy on Saturday Night Live, she said.

Then Rahm Emanuel, Obama's chief of staff, called the congresswoman to tell her it wasn't a joke. But she hung up on him, too. It took a call from Rep. Howard Berman, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, to persuade Ros-Lehtinen that Obama really did want to talk to her.

When the two finally talked, Ros-Lehtinen said she and Obama had a good conversation and she congratulated him for his victory despite how hard she campaigned for his opponent, Sen. John McCain.

He didn't even blame her for mistaking him for a radio-station prank, she said.

"He laughed a lot, saying in Chicago they do it all the time," Ros-Lehtinen said. "He said, 'I don't blame you for being skeptical.'"

Repeated calls by The Associated Press to two office numbers for the congresswoman rang unanswered after hours Wednesday. An e-mail message to an Obama spokeswoman after hours wasn't immediately returned.

Comments

[myangeldog1]

Hilarious!! Nice to see Our President Elect and a GOP Congressional member kid around with each other.......good sign !

[harriscrl3]

Wow I'm sorry but this woman is an not very bright. This is NOT the President of France or Prime Minister of India this is UNITED STATES PRESIDENT ELECT you are a UNITED STATES CONGRESS WOMAN

Doesnt this sort of give you pause about our government if you dont think a President elect would be calling you a Congress Representative its a sad state of our government no wonder they are completely INEPT. Our Constitution calls for separation of powers but I dont remember it saying that Congress and President should NOT communicate.

This is shocking to me either this woman is cooky or this is how our Government has been working.

Carol

[myangeldog1]

Carol....I just told my husband the story and he smiled and said...."If ya think about it, they're probably not used to such an open and candid President".......he's right!!

[postman606]

Bush probably never called her.

[lovable]

that was a funny story ha ha ha . ros - lathian is smarter than palin ha ha ha

[dowl]

This is encouraging--it made me smile. Change, courteous and sincere, will be in Washington next months! Thanks for the story.

[4real]

Funny story.

[fabhell]

VERY funny story. As my old Granny Aurelia McDowd Smith Van Orr (a former fit-model for Christian Dior) would say, "Oh, for poops sake."

[BeasleysMom]

Of course, when I saw the headline, I was grumbling as usual about them low-class, dumb gops. Then I read the article and just laughed for awhile! It is funny. What a great little story! Thanks

[tyger]

Well why not wait until Obama comes on the line to gauge if it's really him. Is her cell phone so well known that anyone can call her. I find her excuse unbelievable.

[BeasleysMom]

It sure is a better story than if she had hung up on him knowing for sure it was him.

[dovelove]

She hung up on him after he came on the line.

[kotipup]

LOL, this is kind of cute. Most members of the House probably never heard boo from GW, unless he wanted them to pass something. She probably didn't think she was "important enough" to get a phone call from the new pres elect, not realizing that he really meant it when he said that he wanted to get broad input and reach out to members of both parties. *sigh*

[nellie]

I love this story. Ros-Lehtinen makes the GOP look good.

Psssssst, Hufpost eds, I don't think you should call Cruz a flack.

[Dave01]

Huff Po didn't. Politico did. Huff Po just copy and pasted it from the original story.

[dct1999]

Who can blame her after the Sarah Palin fiasco with the fake Sarkozy.

[frost12]

PARANOID?--I'VE SEEN HER IN ACTION AND SHE IS HYSTERICAL AND STUPID !

[robiform]

Totally true--she represents the district next to the one I live in, and is one of the dimmest bulbs in Congress! I will say that she's a tad better than my Congressman (Lincoln Diaz-Balart), but not by much. Both of them are old-school Cuban politicians, from whom nothing much is usually heard unless it relates to lifting the embago against Cuba. Then, all you get is screaming hysteria!

[Dave01]

That's exactly what I was thinking. It is a funny story though.

[EricHayes]

This is yet another argument for radio personalities to be licensed and subject to peer review. Get the hatemongers and "Pull my finger"-humor juvenile DJs off the air.