Obama Hung Up On By Congresswoman, And It's All Sarah Palin's Fault

[Neil D]

By Ryan Tate, 9:15 PM on Wed Dec 3 2008,

Meet Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, an inept Republican politician on the order of, say a Katherine Harris. The Congresswoman hung up on Barack Obama twice today, and then put out a press release about it, and THEN mis-spelled "Barak's" name (and the name of his chief of staff) in the press release. Surely what's going on here is that Ros-Lehtinen, the longest-serving woman in Congress and no stranger to embarrassment, has learned all too well the apparent lesson of Sarah Palin's crank call from fake Nicolas Sarkozy: Dense politicians should not attempt to talk to famous strangers on the phone. But she's still incredibly stupid, as revealed by the hilarious chronology of events she published today:

* "Ros-Lehtinen received a call on her cell from a Chicago based phone number and an aide informed her that President-Elect Obama wished to speak to her.

* "A gentleman sounding like Obama introduced himself when Ros-Lehtinen cut him off and said that 'I’m sorry but I think this is a joke from one of the South Florida radio stations known for these pranks'

* "and hung up.

* "Cong. and Chief of Staff designate Rahm Emmanuel (sic) called Ileana and stated 'Ileana, I cannot believe that you hung up on the President-Elect.' Ros-Lehtinen told Rahm that she didn’t believe the call was legitimate

* "and hung up on Emmanuel (sic).

* "A staffer to the Congresswoman informed her that Chairman Howard Berman of the Foreign Affairs Committee needed to speak with her urgently. When Chairman Berman called, Ros-Lehtinen urged him to recount a story only both of them would know [emphasis added], which he did, and told her that she had indeed hung up on the President-Elect."

Then Obama called this insane lady again, telling her "it is very funny that you have twice hung up on me," by which he meant, "please tell me what you would like to see happen in Cuba, so that I know how not to conduct diplomacy there, because you sure suck at that kind of thing."

Being idiotic is basically incurable, and was Palin's real problem to begin with, not the red herring crank call thing.

Redwood,

I dedicate this article to you.

[Dr. Shane]

The hate is oozing out of that article. Who is the hate-monger that wrote that? I thought with the election of Obama we could all love each other. Why are these left-wingers still stirring up the hate pot>

[Woody]

[Taylor]

Well...true Shane it is rather hateful...but I do find it very funny that she hung up on Barack twice. Poor lady, I bet she is mortified now.

[Neil D]

The hate is oozing out of that article. Who is the hate-monger that wrote that? I thought with the election of Obama we could all love each other. Why are these left-wingers still stirring up the hate pot>

[Dr. Shane]

I never heard of this hate-monger Ryan Tate before. Perhaps he should explain himself. Obama won. Why all the hate?

"Meet Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, an inept Republican..."

"Inept" is that how she describes herself? Is that showing an elected congresswoman the respect she deserves?

"THEN mis-spelled "Barak's" name"

What does that have to do with the story? Appears to be a pointless jab. She isn't the first and certainly will not be the last to misspell his name.

"Dense politicians should not attempt..."

"Dense?" Is this to be an elevated discussion in the arena of ideas? Do we expect to have any kind of healthy exchange of ideas by tossing around inflammatory and provocative terms like "dense" and "inept"?

"she's still incredibly stupid"

How many inflammatory and provocative words does a person have to use in a single column before they get labeled a hate-monger?

"Obama called this insane lady again"

I am not sure where he is coming from. Has the congresswoman been diagnosed with a mental illness? That would explain why a rational and level-headed person would use the world "insane" to describe another human being.

"Being idiotic is basically incurable..."

Ok, we have 1. "inept" 2. "dense" 3. "incredibly stupid" 4. "insane" 5. "idiotic" 6. "incurable"

Who is this guy? Is this just a letter to the editor from some fanatical reader? I certainly hope this guy doesn't try to pass himself off as some kind of journalist.

[Neil D]

WASHINGTON (AFP) — A top Republican lawmaker was left red-faced after twice hanging up the phone on president-elect Barack Obama -- fearing he was a prank caller trying to catch her out on a radio show.

"Unfortunately, yes, I did hang up on president-elect Obama twice," Florida congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs committee told ABC television.

"This was pretty embarrassing -- it took two hangups on my part. Whoops. Sorry about that."

Ros-Lehtinen twice put the phone down on Obama, then also snubbed the president-elect's incoming White House chief of staff and former House of Representatives colleague Rahm Emanuel.

Obama finally got through to congratulate Ros-Lehtinen on her reelection after a fellow congressman was asked to phone her and alert her to her mistake, she said.

The congresswoman said that she had been mindful of what happened to Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, who was deceived by a famed radio trickster in Quebec claiming to be French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

She said she told Obama when he finally got through that South Florida radio stations were famous for such pranks.

Is this better?

Ok,...so the conservatives here are a bit upset over thier republicans who are painted in a bad light....is this a fair assessment?