Political Punch

Another material for SNL...

Anyhow, I like that Obama is reaching to many people for his work... To have big ears is a great quality of a leader.

The press release has the run-on flavor of spoken Spanish.

Maybe her press aide's first language isn't English? Or it was originally written in Spanish then translated?

With her district, her office probably does half of its communication in Spanish anyway.

Whatever the case, Ileana looks completely unprofessional.

No coment (sic)

I'd probably hang up on him too. He'd probably be calling me to tell me how big my tax bill is gonna be.
Posted by: Concerned in OH | Dec 3, 2008 7:16:02 PM

I guess that's what you call fantasy-make yourself feel important by hoping for things that will never happen. Keep waiting for his call.

What can I say? Maybe the person who wrote the communication does not know yet how to work out with the word processor. Maybe is a case of not having the software or worst not having a license.
What can ever happen if you have an assistant that does not care to know the spelling of the President Elect? It shows you right there in America how insensitive even employees to Congress Representatives can be. Does this means that society is going down with the Automobile Crash?
Would it be any hope? How does it feel being in the bottom of the pile? Many feel that way. Katrina survivors, Katrina relocated People and People that go from the mirage of situations as not having decent health coverage due to politics. Now there are even more without health insurance.
Here we are talking about a Person who was attempting to make a communication who was put aside due to whatever label. What has happen with the common sense of America?
Two can play the game and many will make worst. Do we really need to bring down America to that point?

The reality is that politicians do not answer the phone for no one and the only time they all become sensitive is at election time. Mistakes as this one should be brought only at election time; it should be a resounding topic so it can be corrected at election time.
Now it is a good time to use situations as this one to get things done. The Cuba Policy should not be an issue of importance. The issue at hand is the economy of United States which affects all their territories. The issue at hand should be to enforce the ADA Law so the less privilege citizens as Persons with Disabilities could have a better life. The ADA Law is not enforced at Puerto Rico and Federal Funds should not be allowed anymore in Puerto Rico under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act from the Code of Federal Regulations.
More than 26.8% of the population in Puerto Rico is compose of Persons with Disabilities. This percentage is more than a million people who do not benefit on the comforts of a reliable transportation system, education system or housing system, etc. Something should had being done long time ago by the Federal Government and they have done so. The ADA Law is for all 50 states and all territories of the United States.
These are issues that should be concerning the politicians at USA and not the Cuba Policy. I hope Mrs. Hillary Clinton has not forgotten the Health Issue which now is out of her hands but affects millions of persons in the United States.

I'm with chipo1965. This story is actually really funny. Yes, the misspellings aren't hugely professional, but it's possible that the staffer was cracking up too hard to use the spell-checker. If anything, it looks like Obama and Ros-Lehtinen share a self-deprecating sense of humor, which is something that's been in disastrously short supply over the last few years.

Thank you for the article.

Prank can reach any person, regardless of status or race. Thus, it is just right that the Congresswoman would thin that she is being pranked.

Yes, I will have to say that Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen show to be paranoid thanks to the pranks from People in her area. Does this attitude helps the common people? No, it doesn’t but certainly we need a change and I hope that the change will begin with President Elect Barack Obama.
Maybe an appointment of a representative for the common citizens should be done. At least in Puerto Rico the appointments for Procurements has being done for Persons with Disabilities, Patients, etc since citizens there gets lost on the local bureaucracy. Certainly politics has become a mighty Architectural Barrier even in the United States
Certainly Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.), the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, helped on this ordeal. What can a common John Doe should call when organizations, entities and other agencies get lost in the politics? Who can we call when even the Media Broadcasters get lost on the political agendas?
Certainly things are changing in America and nothing has being done to help the situation. President Elect Barack Obama has being resourceful on this situation but not all have the power her has.
Even the task for finding answers thru the Federal Government on their Civil Rights Divisions gets lost. What is happening in the United States? How bad things are going to get? Are the citizens going to get the support they need? Or Are we going to suffer the same situation as in Puerto Rico? Now we are together on this mess of the economy and the solution for this problem will not get solve for quite some time.
I hope President Elect Barack Obama will not forget his promises to the citizens that elected him. I hope he does not forget that we live on a society and things are not going to be run as always. For now what is important to Congresswoman Ros Lehtinen is the discussion of the Cuba policy, when in her town of South Florida many US citizens do not have a health insurance. Many suffer to not have basic services thanks to the political agendas. I hope that Congresswoman Ros Lehtinen can have a taste of reality and Senator Bob Menendez and Representative Albio Sire too. Before we sat down to talk about foreign policy we need to take care of the situations at home.

Ileana is a wonderful person who has done a lot, not only for her constituents--Cuban-Americans, Jews, gays, Anglos, African-Americans, with a terrific sense of humor. She did the right thing and both Obama and her got through it. What a country! Way to go !

I guess this is one politican we will not have to worry about running for president. If she recieved that call at 3am call they all kept talking about in the campaign this one will more than likely hang up.

I see the republicans are complaining of the tax bill. They want to borrow money to pay for our troops, for our infra-structure and make our kids pay for the "credit cards". The debt will cause the US to print more money thus reduce its value and decrease our purchase power while owing Saudis, and China everything except for the kitchen sink.
I don't like taxes but sometimes there is a point we must suck it up and take some on.

AND for the republicans who are ripping into Obama. Look he he has Dems and repub in his cabinet and many repub advisors espcially in economics.

please open your eyes and give him an opportunity to heal the rift between repub and dem so our country can rebound from this recssion, wars, and anger in our beautiful country (which wss done under a Repub dominated congress and 8 years of rupub administration.

Thank you for allowing me to vent and excuse the typos.

A moderate rublican.

I'm soo tired of the Republicans saying the media is in love with Obama. Really were was all the love the first year of his campaign? When he and his wife gave a sort or hand slap and it was mad into this national security issue. Or every single issue: His kindergarten grades, a terrorist who bomb or planed to when he was five, and lets not forget his pastor. I'm sure he and family have felt all the love....Get Over It. Stop blaming everything and everyone for the defeat..

The reason, as Curtis puts it, the release was written at a third grade level was so the dems could understand what was being written.
Seriously, newspapers are written at a fifth grade level.
As far as dems not knowing the issues, Howard Stern went into Harlem and asked people who they were voting for. Most said Obama and when asked what they thought of the vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin their respose was, 'I think she's a great person.'
I don't think anything else has to be said about that.

Well, at least she is cautious. I mean after CupCakes made herself look like a complete fool with that prank Sarkozy call, I don't blame any politico for being on guard and cautious. But, I kind of feel it is a bit unfair to focus on the Ros-Lehtinen press release. To me, it seems as if some parts of the media are trying to get a ball rolling that all Republicans are dumb (thanks! to my favorite babydoll!.)

Although, ...I don't know... maybe there is some truth to that given many of the postings, (from that side on this site--even this story), that sort of supports that notion.

I'll just chalk the Ros-Lehtinen PR up to that she and her staff, (being really excited that the "real" President-Elect graciously reached out to them), just wanted to let everyone know that Mr. Obama is really concerned with uniting the country and having us all work together to get our country back on track. OUT WITH PARTY POLITICS! IN WITH UNITY!!!!

NOW! Anyone know what my HoneyCakes is up to today??? I need a good chuckle!!!!

Sarah Pailin.... just FABULOUSLY entertaining!

Did anyone else notice that the press-release was written at a third grade reading level???

"And, this kind of stupidity from democrats is a surprise to whom? "

Well, it is certainly no surprise coming from Republicans... like this one.

Cong. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen is a Republican.

Quite bizarre that the press release mis-spelled both Obama's and Emanuel's names. If this were coming from a freshman legislator known for gaffes, it would just be humourous. But Ros-Lehtinen is something of a heavyweight; she's the most senior Republican woman in the House and the ranking Republican on the Foreign Relations committee... which is probably why its chairman was the only Democrat who could reassure her. Just really bizarre behavior for someone with two decades of House experience.

I just can't hear Obama (or anyone) saying "It is very funny that you have twice hung up on me."

This Rep.'s office needs to work on coming up with more realistic-sounding dialogue for the next time this happens.

Stupidity from the democrats? Is that why WE won? I don't think that would be called stupidity; that's called winning. What you're doing is called whining.