Gov. Scott Walker Falls for Prank Call; A Brief History of Gullible Politicians

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker may want to start checking his caller ID.

Walker's office has admitted that the governor was crank-called by Ian Murphy of the Buffalo Beast, an upstate New York-based website. Murphy spent more about 20 minutes on the phone with Walker, pretending to be David Koch. A Walker campaign contributor, Koch and his brother Charles have donated more than $100 million to "right-wing causes," according to a 2010 New Yorker article.

With those credentials, it's perhaps understandable that Walker would speak freely to Koch about the protests that have embroiled Wisconsin over the past week. But Walker may have spoken a little too freely, sharing plans about how to foil Democrats who have fled the state and agreeing to a rather inappropriate statement that Murphy-as-Koch makes about the butt of MSNBC's Mika Brzezinski.

You can listen to the call below.

Perhaps Walker can take some comfort in knowing that he's hardly the only politician to fall for a good old-fashioned crank call.

Surge Desk found some others who probably should have known better.

Sarah Palin
In November 2008, the then VP candidate took what she thought was a call from French President Nicolas Sarkozy. But "Sarkozy" was really a Montreal radio station DJ who managed to fool her staff. Palin talked to the faux French prez for seven minutes, with the entire thing broadcast on-air.

Queen Elizabeth II
In 1995, the British queen spent 15 minutes on the phone with someone she believed to be then Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien. It was really another Canadian DJ (they are a rascally bunch, it seems), who got her to promise to try to sway a referendum about independence for the French-speaking province of Quebec. The queen hung up without realizing it was all a joke. According to the BBC, the same DJ, Pierre Brassard, was also able to get on the phone with the pope by posing as Chretien. But the pope knew something was up when the "prime minister" asked him about putting a toy propeller on his papal hat.

Tony Blair
In 1998, the then British prime minister knew something was up as soon as the person claiming to be William Hague, an opposition leader, called him Tony. Hague usually called him "prime minister." But Blair played along, laughing when "Hague" offered to share a Cher exercise tape with him. The culprit was British DJ Steve Penk.

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Hugo Chavez
In 2003, two Miami DJs were able to pull off a crank-call coup when they called up Chavez, the president of Venezuela, pretending to be Cuba's Fidel Castro. They used recordings of Castro's voice to pull it off, before confessing to an angry Chavez that it was all a prank.

Fidel Castro
The same Miami DJs were able to strike gold twice by prank-calling Castro, also in 2003. This time they pretended to be Chavez, thanks to recordings from the earlier stunt.

Bolivian President Evo Morales
In 2005, DJs at a Catholic Church-owned radio station in Spain called up Morales, the newly elected president of Bolivia, pretending to be then Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. In the "congratulatory" call, the Zapatero impostor insulted George W. Bush, saying the U.S. president probably hadn't bothered to call. The Bolivian embassy was angry, and the radio station was forced to apologize.

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Gov. Scott Walker Falls for Prank Call; a Brief History of Gullible Politicians

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