Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen Hangs Up On Barack Obama

Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen ain’t no fool. When she received a phone call from a man purporting to be Barack Obama, she hung up after telling him he was, at the very least, more believable than SNL’s Fred Armisen. When she received a second phone call — this time, supposedly, from Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel — she hung up yet again. Then when Rahm Emanuel showed up at her door, wild-eyed and brandishing a meat cleaver, she was like, “Oh!” Yeah, it turns out Ros-Lehtinen really had hung up on the President-elect. And with good reason:

“I thought it was one of the radio stations in South Florida playing an incredible, elaborate, terrific prank on me,” said Ms Ros- Lehtinen. “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.’”

It wasn’t until she received a call from Howard Berman, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, that she realized her mistake and learned Obama had called in order to congratulate her on her re-election.

She immediately had her office send out a press release explaining the misunderstanding. Unfortunately, the press release managed to misspell the names of both Barack “Barak” Obama and Rahm “Emmanuel” Emanuel. Oh, whatever. Leave Ileana Ross-Lehtiengienen alone!

Republican congresswoman, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, hangs up on Barack Obama [Times]