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

[tm68]

I wouldn't say this is news, but it is a funny story. After the Palin phone call went viral, I wouldn't risk the same happening to me if I was a polictian! I understand the paranoia!

[Siren]

Obviously she talked to Sarah Palin about the call Palin got from two Canadian radio hosts. Sarah bought it hook line and sinker,.

[jazzblues]

This is such a stupid news story. I like HuffPo...b­ut then every now and then they would just pull these stupidest stories...­that are like...hig­h school like stories...

C'mon...se­riously...

I am the headline was made in such a way...that it'll attract viewers..a­nd then u come in and find this cra..p

[StrongEagle]

I can understand. I bet Bush never called anybody.

[priscianusjr]

That was my thought too. I mean, why on earth would the president of the United States -- okay, president-elect -- want to speak to a member of the House of representatives? -- especially from the other party? I'm sure that's how it was with Bush.

[Axekick]

If Bush called they would only hang up if they believed it truly was him.

[cjgnew]

I really had a good laugh on that one! Yet, was the misleading title really necessary? Couldn't you have found a less inflammatory title to entice us to read your piece? Such title gives the press a bad name, and if I wanted to read the National Enquire, I'd check it out on my way out of my favorite grocery store.

[rob2007]

I have been an avid reader of HuffPost from the time of the Iowa primary, and recently there has been a big spike in the number of annoyingly inaccurate and grossly misleading titles. I wish Arianna or her minions would get a hold of this because seriously it is pissing off a lot of readers I know. It's insulting to their readership's intelligence.

[cjgnew]

I support your comment. But I am even more afraid of the effect on our culture that it is OK to be deceitful in order to achieve one's specific goals. I think sending such a message is dangerous because I'm afraid that a lot of people will react to that by incorporating in their minds the wrong idea that if the press can be deceitful, it's OK for them to be deceitful as well in everything that they do. The result of that is a society that loses its core values of honesty, integrity and moral decency. This is how we ended up having one of our leaders claiming that she recalled visiting Bosnia and arriving at the airport under enemy fire, when it was clearly false. If we continue to follow this road, it won't be long before one of our leaders declare that the Holocaust never happened.

[paydayloans]

What to focus on under the new US presidency? With all the hustle and bustle going on in the White House, can payday loans be of any help to level out the commotion in the Oval Office? Excitement spirals over President-elect Barack Obama’s picks for Cabinet for the new administration. The chosen ones have been announced and critics are wondering how exactly he’s going to manage such a strong group. Obama is “a believer in strong personalities and strong opinions,” and he intends on getting the best. National security and economic policy teams will be led by a sturdy army. On his national security division, Obama will team Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Vice President Joe Biden, retired four-star Marine Gen. Jim Jones as national security adviser and four-star Gen. David Petraeus as chief of U.S. Central Command. What makes this organization even more impressive are the members of the economic team: National Economic Council head Larry Summers, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker as the lead of Obama’s economic recovery advisory board. To add another strong personality into the brilliant governing mix is Rahm Emanuel who will serve as the White House Chief of Staff.

[lizziekw]

I was really hoping she'd be defeated this time, she's really annoying. Oh well, maybe we'll have better luck next time.

[klondiker]

There's a funny scene in "The American President" when Michael Douglas calls Annette Bening for a date, but she doesn't believe that it's the president, so she hangs up a couple of times, until he gives her the White House number and has her call him back. :)

[BeyondEvolution]

She didn't hang up because she thought it was a prank. She hung up because she didn't want to talk to him. She was then forced to talk to him afterwards. lol

[WestCoastWoman]

Huff Po... where did my comment go? I'll try again. Look everyone..­... it's the Church Lady from SNL! Maybe she can do a skit with Tina Fey and the Moose Lady from Alaska!

[WestCoastWoman]

Look everyone..­... It's the Church Lady from SNL!!!!! Maybe she can do a spoof with Tina Fey?

[ailbhe]

Unless you're expecting a call from the President elect, of course you are going to assume it is a prank! Very courteous of him.

[VOTER]

She is stupid.

She didn't stay on the phone long enough to find out if it was Obama
or a prankster.

Keep her away from the RED PHONE.....­.......

[jaielaw]

Give her a break. She obviously didn't want to be compared to PALIN.

[apoyo]

too late

[cjgnew]

I liked your comment, yet I must point out to you that the two instances were quite different in that in the Palin's prank the pranksters deliberately chose and mentioned the wrong prime ministers' names for both Québec and Canada, and had Palin been aware of their names, she would have known right away that it was a prank. The MSM never mentioned those facts as a courtesy to her I suppose, but because I grew up in Québec and am half French, I picked that up right away and brought it up on the blogosphere. I thought that the fact that Palin didn't know their names was important, but no one seemed to care, and that worried me a great deal, for it drove the point to me that you really can't rely on the MSM for real, unbiased news. If you do, that really can screw you up.

[firelord5000]

lol

[Sparty1]

She's stupid.