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Quacking Phone Interrupts Obama

By Steve Pendlebury
,
AOL News
posted: 224 DAYS 21 HOURS AGO
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(June 30) -- If it quacks like a duck ... it might be someone's cell phone going off at the wrong moment.
President Obama discovered this Monday as he spoke in the East Room of the White House at an event marking Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Pride Month.
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PRESIDENT OBAMA: For we know that progress depends not only on changing laws but also changing hearts. And that real, transformative change never begins in Washington
UNFORTUNATE PERSON'S CELL PHONE: Quack, quack, quack
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Whose duck is back there?
MRS. OBAMA: It's a duck!
PRESIDENT OBAMA: There's a duck quacking in there somewhere. Where do you guys get these ring tones, by the way?
The president resumed his remarks, choosing not to go duck hunting for the offender. He showed more restraint than his spokesman did when a reporter's phone rang once too often at a White House briefing on May 13.
Press Secretary Robert Gibbs had warned Human Events magazine's John Gizzi three times already.
"Just put it on vibrate, man," Gibbs implored. But Gizzi's phone rang again.
"Give me the phone," Gibbs demanded. The reporter sheepishly handed it over as the briefing room erupted in hoots and laughter.
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Gibbs tossed the phone to someone in an adjacent office and when he returned to the podium, as if on cue, Bill Plante's phone started ringing. The CBS correspondent ducked out of the room before Gibbs could confiscate the device.
Such moments aren't unique to the Obama administration. Bush Press Secretary Tony Snow was in mid-briefing on Jan. 9, 2007, when Chamillionaire's tune 'Ridin' ' suddenly filled the room.
Snow -- who was also a musician -- leaned forward, mouth agape in feigned shock.
"Does Martha have a hip-hop ring tone?" he asked. "Play that funky music, white girl!"
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2009-06-30 10:41:58

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(June 30) -- If it quacks like a duck ... it might be someone\'s cell phone going off at the wrong moment.\n\nPresident Obama discovered this Monday as he spoke in the East Room of the White House at an event marking Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Pride Month.