Bush Nearly Blows Up Self, Reporters

Posted on April 9, 2007

Ford CEO Alan Mulally really earned his pay: he stopped President Bush from accidentally blowing up himself and a bunch of reporters when he nearly plugged the wrong cord into a hydrogen car.

Credit Ford Motor Co. CEO Alan Mulally with saving the leader of the free world from self-immolation.
Mulally told journalists at the New York auto show that he intervened to prevent President Bush from plugging an electrical cord into the hydrogen tank of Ford's hydrogen-electric plug-in hybrid at the White House last week. Ford wanted to give the Commander-in-Chief an actual demonstration of the innovative vehicle, so the automaker arranged for an electrical outlet to be installed on the South Lawn and ran a charging cord to the hybrid. However, as Mulally followed Bush out to the car, he noticed someone had left the cord lying at the rear of the vehicle, near the fuel tank.
"I just thought, 'Oh my goodness!' So, I started walking faster, and the President walked faster and he got to the cord before I did. I violated all the protocols. I touched the President. I grabbed his arm and I moved him up to the front," Mulally said. "I wanted the president to make sure he plugged into the electricity, not into the hydrogen This is all off the record, right?"

Er, no. It was all on the record. It was nearly an event of epic proportions. If Alan Mulally hadn't shoved Bush out of the way and retrived the electrical cord, President Bush would have destroyed his own life and the budding hydrogen car industry, all in one fell swoop. Give Mulally his bonus this quarter: he's earned every penny.

The incident raises another question: how dangerous are these hydrogen cars, anyway?