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

[AlinaM]

Ileana is probably not used to having a president be gracious to her. Her tenure may have included Reagan, Bush, Clinton and W. It is unlikely that any of the above ever took the time to extended such a courtesy. I sincerely doubt that McCain would have extended such a courtesy to her had he won. It is easy to understand why the call appeared to be a crank call.

[Wiserone]

But, it should also tell you that this particular congress woman is a member of the Foreign Relations Committee and considering what recently happened in India and generally what is occuring all over the world, one would think she would have the where-with-all to at least consider the call legitmate UNTIL the conversation started to deteriorate. She wasn't bothering to discern whether it was or not. Seen her on Bill Maher show and she was a cheerleader, big time for Palin too. Stupid is as stupid does.

[JoeHurley]

I hear that she was stabbing her desk with a knife at the time.

[concernvoter]

I guess it is good to have caller ID.

[Darsan54]

Oh and like it says POTUS when the Prez rings up.

[nokoolaid01]

How dare she hang up on the Messiah!! Fifity lashes for her audacity!!
But seriously folks, this is a yawner. Boring.File under who the hell cares.
Anoher thing, I find it amazing that Palin seems to come into every conversation, no matter how remote. She really has put the fear of God into some of you. You sleep Palin, eat Palin (insert your crude jokes here) and dream Palin. Give it a rest.

[renatam]

Yes. We finally have leadership attempting to function in a bipartisan way -- for real, and a petty, small Floridian political operative chooses to HANG UP on the President-Elect of the United States -- during TWO WARS, a financial implosion and homeland security alerts on NYC subways!

The entire Senate and Congress KNOW President-Elect Obama is making calls -- and they all answer. This petty operative chooses to make a pathetic point -- that only makes her and her State look small.

Thankfully, we have a professional President-Elect who blows these games off -- and remains focused on the issues at hand -- and, unlike our sitting President, he actually gets security briefings DAILY, and does the job even before he has it.

What if he was calling this pathetic woman about something he heard in the DAILY SECURITY BRIEFING?

Pathetic Republicans putting their ideology and games before our national security, the issues the Nation faces, etc. Will it EVER end?

Maybe when Florida has its next (of many) hurricanes - begging American taxpayers to underwrite the cleanup, she will get hangups.

[Darsan54]

Honestly, I don't blame her and it is funny. Consider the media's glee at Palin's punking by Canadian DJs. Seriously, I would listen to hear if there is any giggling in the background but I think anyone would be skeptical.

[Gasparilla]

Well, it's not that really "remote" to comment on Palin here, because she did get cranked. And it's Palin who has inserted herself into the national scene. People are going to comment on her and her rampant stupidity. As for "who cares", apparently you do.

[Goddatunda]

"Fear of God?"

No.

Fear of you people somehow electing her to some office where she can inflict her crazy
B.S. on this nation?

Yes, somewhat.

Yes.

[renatam]

Clever stunt for the Cuban/Republican voters and National RNC, who are now demoralized. Pathetic. Petty. Small.

Hopefully, when the State of Florida has its next hurricane (an annual event) - a President Obama won't hang up the phone on her -- twice.

How stupid can one get?

Floridians should not condone this kind of behavior.

[Suzique]

Does stupidity run rampant in the GOP? Can they not afford caller ID? I guess it's a good thing that it was finally worked out but is it a good idea foor a governor to hang up without checking? If this was a call about a real crisis, how much time would have been lost while she played games? Scary.

[beerguy]

What if the ID is blocked?

[provgrays]

Well, she can expect less hometown pork for her district.

[Thumperdumper]

Good for her. Cold calls are no longer a good idea.

[MNmommy]

Cute story.

She's actually one of the *better* Republicans - she was on Maher's last show of the season a couple weeks ago - she seemed very good natured and had a good sense of humor. Nothing like say... David Frum or Michael Steele. Nary a talking point spewed from her. ;)

[InfoWarriorNY]

How cute. What a wonderful world. First a Democrat is selected. Then a Democrat is "elected." Then we have Republican in the WH

[Donns]

this is a news story?

[Passenger57]

Give us a break! First of all,she never even mentioned Palin ; she went straight for leaders of other countries - and puts herself in the same category.Has anyone ever done it to her before? How many radio stations even care that much to try and trick her like that?
Second - First "they" impersonate Obama, then do Emmanuel? I know I've been brushing up on MY Emmanuel impersonation!
Last, when someone is trying to congratulate you on winning - why hang up on them? How about politely receiving the entire call,and then finding out later if it was really him?

[rflctammt]

You know, not everything has to be analyzed, disected or discredited. Life is serious enough. While this story is, in fact, fairly interesting and somewhat entertaining - there is absolutely no call for negativity or judgement.

How refreshing to have a president that does personally call all different kinds of people, and can laugh about their sometimes surprising reactions. A better day sure seems to be coming, let's just all take the opportunity to smile and enjoy the journey.

[Leota2]

I agree with you.
The problem is many of us have lost our sense of humor, and it's sad. We are hypercritical, take everything in a knee jerk fashion and are truly like heart-hardened abuse victims. Eight years of Bush's partisan politics have left many sour and bitter. Some of us are already attacking the President-Elect (who technically is not president yet). I feel the gloom emerging and would like to enjoy the coming journey too. And not everything has to be NEWS.
And dammit—some things are funny people— even when it involves a Republican!

[JenMI]

Interesting how the same people who criticized Palin for taking a crank call now criticize Republican Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen for being cautious..­.brainless hypocrisy.

[Irish55]

UMMMMM - the difference being that Gov Palin was running for Vice President at the time. Big difference between a Congressman and Vice President. One would assume that Gov Palin who had a staff helping her would have known better than to go along with a call that was quite obviously a prank. I mean really - why would the President of France be calling her in the middle of the campaign. Come on --- guess you're mad about the election, but lighten up already. Everyone should lighten up a little and laugh a little.

[mamacat]

It's nice to see that everyone was able to keep their sense of humor.