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

[LiarLiarIraqsOnFire]

What a putz!

[notconfindtweenhatnboots]

To be fair, she's probably like a lot of the rest of us who don't take anyone seriously unless we can see the caller's name and number on the Caller ID. Most of us don't even answer the phone without knowing who it is.

If she's getting a call that says unidentified caller, then she should err on the side of caution. Obama needs a phone that he can make outgoing calls on that is Identified on Caller ID as the Office of the POTUS elect. Problem solved.

[Larkinvos]

Ileana is lucky this isn't a monarchy, or
there would be a tumbrel with her name on it.

[XME]

HuffPo: YOUR INTENTIONALLY MISLEADING HEADLINES ARE BECOMING RIDICULOUS!

[gotgat54]

Ridiculous, provocative and often inflammatory. This is the cheap sensationalism that distorts honest political discourse in the US. And it's irresponsible -- there are people who'd read just the headline on the front page and draw the wrong conclusions. Cut it out, HuffPo! Grow up! This is one of the liveliest and busiest news sites around; that should be enough to draw readers.

[ProgressDon]

What a dumb A55.....ho­w can you not know his voice lol

[Yermammy]

That's too funny! The rethugs are gun shy after Palin's little "interview". Ha ha!

[grumpygranny66]

LOL; I forgot about that little incident with Sista Sarah

[torrrep]

Name calling is getting old. Maybe you should try graduating from the 6th grade. And you wonder why you can't find a good job.

[CostaDelBarto]

Yeah she won't let herself be punked. You can't fool her.

Oh dear.

[dnno1]

I can just imagine what Emanuel said to her.

[YouDisgustMe]

he was probably like "listen, B$%%^....t­he president-elect wants to speak to you!"...an­d then got hung up on lol

[Passenger57]

That's one crafty "radio station"..­.
"Let's punk her! We'll pretend we're Obama! Ha ha!"
"Yeah! And if she hangs up on us,we'll do our impression of Rahm Emmanuel!"
"And if she hangs up on HIM..."
She knew who it was!

[marthlois]

Oh I think it's a very funny news stories - and goodness knows we need some laughs.
Kind of reminds me of when.. in The American President.­..Anette Benning hung up on the President
twice before he said "look, I'd like you to call the White House - tell them who you are and that you're calling to speak with me - they'll put you through to my private residence". HA! The Congresswoman
and Obama will share many laughs about this through the years, no doubt.

[jubal8]

In other news, HuffPo spins up another misleading headline to prey on people's less noble instincts -- for the thousandth time.

[rabiddog6708]

Bu$h got cranked called by Satan, who was pretending that he was Jehovah. Told him to run for POTUS because his country needed him.

[notconfindtweenhatnboots]

This would be funny if only it weren't true. And instead of just losing his soul, he lost the economic well-being of all of our grandchildren.

[speckitis]

Amen. I wonder what voices are echoing in Bu$h's skull now... To look on the good side, as Martin Luther King said, "When it's the darkest, the stars shine the brightest.­" May Obama be our star.

[mrprius]

I thought Chris Farley died.
I guess he just moved to Florida.
There's a difference right?

[lyingtruth]

My source said that she was cramming 2 Big Macs and a double order of large fries in her mouth when Obama called, and you simply cannot speak to this woman when eating!

[bby328]

lol . . . it happens all the time.

[mec57]

Classy...

[Passenger57]

I heard she hollows out a long french fry and uses it as a straw.

[alabaman]

She and all the memberw of the Florida congressional delegation are the reason the US still has the stupid emabargo against Cuba, and with wingnuts like her it will remain in place.

[Perseus]

I am dumb.

I am a Congresswomannnnn.

I am a Republicromagnom.

Ne msms.

Spear sharp!

Ugh. Un gowah!