Ford CEO Alan Mulally tells reporters that he had to run over and stop President Bush from plugging an electrical cord into the hydrogen tank of a hybrid car at the White House last week.
“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?”

Talk about tunnel vision. It’s “can’t see the forest for the trees time.” Too bad it’s killing so many innocent people.
April 8th, 2007 at 11:05 amThank you for saving us from President Dick Cheney!
April 8th, 2007 at 11:10 am“I wanted the president to make sure he plugged into the electricity, not into the hydrogen …”
Quantum Mechanics provides an entertaining ‘thought experiment’.
April 8th, 2007 at 11:12 amBetter stay with the chain saw, dubious….
April 8th, 2007 at 11:13 amlol indeed, thank you Alan from saving us a President Cheney.
On another note, wonder when the public will wake up to the “explosive” dangers of hydrogen cars. Electric is the future.
April 8th, 2007 at 11:15 amIt’s against protocol to touch the president? Huh…
Wow, where were the Secret Service dudes? Shouldn’t Mulally have been tackled BEFORE he ever reached Dear Leader?
April 8th, 2007 at 11:22 amLooks like Chainee there behind Dubious… if there had been a “whooops”, the Hon. Nancy would have gotten an important phone call…
April 8th, 2007 at 11:22 am(sigh)
Is that the hand sanitizer there in Alan’ hand?
April 8th, 2007 at 11:24 amWhat Malally did burns ME up! What’s the name of that car anyway, the Hindenburg Jr.?
April 8th, 2007 at 11:24 amThank you for saving us from President Dick Cheney!
Look! Cheney was standing right next to him! We just missed swearing in President Pelosi!
April 8th, 2007 at 11:25 amCheney whispered into Bush’s ear to plug it into the hydrogen outlet. Cheney’s plans for world domination were thwarted by a vigilant CEO.
-GSD
April 8th, 2007 at 11:26 amCaption:
George: “But, but, the prong is upside down!”
Dick: “Do it!, do it!”
Alan: “I wish I had stayed on the assembly line….”
April 8th, 2007 at 11:27 amIts that twist of fate thing. If you were in Nazi Germany in 1938 and you seen Hitler walking down the street and he was getting ready to step in a puddle of water that had a plugged in frayed electrical cord in it would you stop Hitler from stepping into the puddle?
April 8th, 2007 at 11:31 amThese cars are that f-ing dangerous? Who needs terrorists? Just a bunch of idiots plugging their cars in wrong will make a few headlines.
April 8th, 2007 at 11:33 amSo easy, a monkey could operate it.
April 8th, 2007 at 11:34 amSo Ford hasn’t made their product “idiot proof” yet.
April 8th, 2007 at 11:34 amhow stupid is acceptable for the american people? do morons like having morons as their leader? somehow we have to try to make morons aware that they should let people that have been trained in thinking make the suggestions. but how do you tell a moron anything? offer food?
April 8th, 2007 at 11:34 amBush is the perpetual child – he loves to play with toys, he likes to operate them before learning how to do it correctly. I bet he ruined many toys as a boy, because he is still breaking everything he touches. Foolish Boy-king.
April 8th, 2007 at 11:35 am#15
April 8th, 2007 at 11:36 amLOL
So easy, a monkey could operate it.
Comment by TheToonGuy — April 8, 2007 @ 11:34 am
Or so stupid our president can blow it up.
April 8th, 2007 at 11:37 amAlan Mulally, today’s Worst Person In the World!! Oh wait a minute, that would mean we would have President Darth Cheney…Alan Mulally, today’s BEST Person In the World!!
April 8th, 2007 at 11:37 amI will never buy another ford…how dare he touch the prezidiot and stop him from getting plugged in.
April 8th, 2007 at 11:40 amThe bigger story (rather than Bush’s idiocy) should be that Ford’s car is apparently capable of killing someone who might place a cord into the wrong location. Does that not strike anyone else here as the height of stupidity? Mulally should be embarrassed for bringing such a deadly contraption to the President, not the other way around.
April 8th, 2007 at 11:42 am#2- Nah, cheney was right there, too! We coulda had Nancy for President!
April 8th, 2007 at 11:43 amso the Ford is deadly?
April 8th, 2007 at 11:44 amNoone ever wished for Clintons death so passivley
April 8th, 2007 at 11:46 amFantasizing
April 8th, 2007 at 11:46 amof
republican’s
demise
The secret service agents *were* doing their jobs. Don’t they swear to uphold the constitution against all foes, foreign and domestic? I think I know who left the cord near the back of the car.
April 8th, 2007 at 11:48 amI will never buy another ford
I would never buy one in the first place…although the picture may once and for all explain WHY they’re Found On Road Dead. And seeing that Darth IS in the picture too, if the ensuing explosion works just right then yes we could have had President Pelosi. So I re-declare…Alan Mulally, today’s Worst Person In the World!
April 8th, 2007 at 11:49 amSo Mulally must be a total idiot to even imagine that a hydrogen fitting/valve would somehow match up with the electric plug. Or Ford Motors has somehow figured out how to squeeze high pressure hydrogen gas through an electric cord.
Maybe he was saving Bush from spending hours trying to figure out how to fit the two together.
April 8th, 2007 at 11:53 amYou see? These kind of cars are dangerous! We should consider keeping the much-safer petroleum burning cars.
April 8th, 2007 at 11:54 amBoth fools.
April 8th, 2007 at 11:55 am[...] HT: Think Progress! [...]
April 8th, 2007 at 11:59 amWhat, they learned nothing from the Pinto?
April 8th, 2007 at 12:04 pmWere it not for Alan’s FOCUS, George would have had Dick ESCORT him to the great RANCHERO in the sky……….
April 8th, 2007 at 12:05 pmI’ll never buy another Ford!
April 8th, 2007 at 12:05 pmAs if we needed further proof of Bush’s idiocy?
Well, at least this will be one thread that the trolls won’t touch. :D
April 8th, 2007 at 12:08 pmThey will find a way to relate this with Iran.
April 8th, 2007 at 12:11 pmthis is troll proof!
April 8th, 2007 at 12:11 pmWere it not for Alan’s FOCUS, George would have had Dick ESCORT him to the great RANCHERO in the sky……….
Comment by Raven
Hey, you are on fire today! :)
April 8th, 2007 at 12:12 pmProbably, hydrogen should be held accountable for murdering attempt, should be considered unlawful combatant and waterboarded in Gitmo. Cause we all know that nothing dangerous happens when you put the electrical chord into a barrel of gasoline.
April 8th, 2007 at 12:17 pmIf Bush had contacted the electrical hot to the hydrogen input then I assume the conspiracy from the right would have been it was Al Gore and his global warming hoaxs fault somehow. Then after that was disproven it would be clintons fault. After all bush was sticking something in a hole so it clearly was related to clinton.
It is much better to have electric cars like the Tesla and use hydrogen in small amounts as a back up battery charger for the long hauls. On the other hand I read the other day that a group of scientists had used sugar to fuel a new type of battery…
Sugar-Fuelled Battery Soon To Juice Up Portable Electronics
April 8th, 2007 at 12:17 pmA few minutes later Mulally had to stop him from trying to drive off with the cord still plugged in.
April 8th, 2007 at 12:18 pmDAMN!!!
April 8th, 2007 at 12:18 pmAl Gore wins an Oscar.
April 8th, 2007 at 12:19 pmW almost wins a “Darwin”
Caption:
ZZAAAAPPPP!!!!
(if only)
April 8th, 2007 at 12:20 pmMulally-you stupid f*ck, you should have left the room instead.
April 8th, 2007 at 12:21 pm#2 rk; where have you been in the last 6 years?,for that amount of time , we have had Prez Cheney.
April 8th, 2007 at 12:26 pmNow we know why Ford is doing so poorly in the marketplace. What kind of design flaw makes it possible to confuse these two connections? Isn’t this the kind of engineering ineptitude we once ridiculed in the Soviet economy?
April 8th, 2007 at 12:33 pmThey will find a way to relate this with Iran.
Comment by Juan C — April 8, 2007 @ 12:11 pm
No doubt
April 8th, 2007 at 12:34 pmWhats the last word George W Bush will say before the end of the world?
:|
April 8th, 2007 at 12:35 pm
Al Gore wins an Oscar.
W almost wins a “Darwinâ€
Comment by jillian — April 8, 2007 @ 12:19 pm
LOL!
April 8th, 2007 at 12:35 pmBush misses the good old when you could just light a match to see how much gas was left in the tank.
April 8th, 2007 at 12:38 pmto clarify #47, Bush is a figurehead, the village idiot from Texas, the evil 5-deferment Dickhead Cheney is the puppetmaster pulling Bush’s strings.
April 8th, 2007 at 12:39 pmBush misses the good old when you could just light a match to see how much gas was left in the tank.
Comment by Kevin Good — April 8, 2007 @ 12:38 pm
LOL.
April 8th, 2007 at 12:44 pmSeriously – shouldn’t they have made the plugs different so that one couldn’t connect with the other? It is why I have a little travel bag filled with a series of appliance connectors – because there are infinite numbers of ways to make a connection…
April 8th, 2007 at 12:47 pmSurprising that he didn’t try to plug it into his own ear.
April 8th, 2007 at 12:51 pm“Bush blows himself up; approval rating surges 3 percent.”
April 8th, 2007 at 12:52 pmWell, we probably shouldn’t be too worried.
Rumor has it he seldom gets it in the hole.
April 8th, 2007 at 12:55 pmdamn!
April 8th, 2007 at 12:55 pmWill someone please save this nincompoop from himself? I guess the old adage rings true that “we are our own worst “enemy”….as is the case with GWBush.
April 8th, 2007 at 12:57 pmLikely it wouldn’t have blown up, but that would have made for an Entertaining television moment
Secret Service: OMG! It’s a Potential Explosive Device!!!
April 8th, 2007 at 1:03 pm(tackles president and drags him away)
I’m not sure Mullaly is any brighter than Bush. Does he really believe they built a car that was that easy to blow up.
Obviously, looking at the President, the American people are too stupid to be trusted with a vehicle that you could explode by plugging in the wrong plug. Pretty sure Mullaly doesn’t have the car figured out any better that the nitwit.
April 8th, 2007 at 1:03 pm[...] course this is deliciously Juicy news to those who want to make President Bush out to be the bumbling fool. but I have a much larger concern with [...]
April 8th, 2007 at 1:09 pmSeriously – shouldn’t they have made the plugs different so that one couldn’t connect with the other? It is why I have a little travel bag filled with a series of appliance connectors – because there are infinite numbers of ways to make a connection…
Comment by unbelievable
There doesnt need to be a plug at all… just a metal funnel that runs down to the hydrogen… then you touch the power lead to that ..and boom… same thing would happen in a regular gas tank.
April 8th, 2007 at 1:16 pmGo ahead George, plug it in. It’s so easy even a caveman could do it.
April 8th, 2007 at 1:21 pmThis ones a keeper.
This is the funniest thing I’ve heard all week.
I hope it makes the evening news on Monday.
April 8th, 2007 at 1:33 pmHey . . . I just . . . yep, I just had an idea.
All you have to do is call fox newz and tell them what the video footage of g-dub blowing himself up by plugging in a car would do for their ratings !
April 8th, 2007 at 1:37 pmLaura Bush must have smiled, remembering George’s similar error on their honeymoon.
April 8th, 2007 at 2:03 pmDumbass.
that Ford guy’s a hero though.
April 8th, 2007 at 2:04 pmDumb and Dumber!
April 8th, 2007 at 2:05 pmLaura Bush must have smiled, remembering George’s similar error on their honeymoon.
Comment by barfly
Ouch. :D
April 8th, 2007 at 2:18 pmDumbya and earlier “close calls”:
Cuts own wrist to see if that throbbing pink tube just underneath skin is a killer worm that has somehow infiltrated his body.
Wondering idly what “might” happen, sticks nail into electric socket.
Wanting to watch baseball, plugs in teevee while sitting in tub of hot water.
While waiting on Jeb, sits in closed garage with car engine running.
During raging thunderstorm, continues to play golfing round, telling buddies, “Now watch this drive.”
Thinking his parents have gone to extraordinary lengths to hide liquor from him, takes a long swig from black bottle with skull and crossed bones on its label.
April 8th, 2007 at 2:22 pmAlan Mulally, YOU NUMBSKULL!!!! I SEE FROM THE PHOTO ACCOMPANYING THE POST THAT FRANKENCheney WAS STANDING RIGHT NEXT TO Monkey Boy CHIMPya—KABOOM!!!!! WHAT A COLOSSAL MISSED OPPORTUNITY, A GIFT FROM HEAVEN, AND YOU BLEW IT, YOU IMBECILIC MORON!!!!! Alan Mulally, MY GEAS-CURSE ON YOU AS WELL, MAY Ford(tm) BE CONSIGNED TO THE JUNK-HEAP OF FORGOTTEN CARS FOR YOUR ACTIONS!!!!! SO MOTE IT BE!!!!!
April 8th, 2007 at 2:35 pmI’m with shane @ 62: Pretty sure Mullaly doesn’t have the car figured out any better that the nitwit.
If there was a refillable tank of compressed gas of any kind in that car, the valve for it would have been designed to open only when the right fitting was inserted, and not to leak before, during or after insertion. I doubt very much that even Bush would’ve been able to force open the valve with an electrical plug and release any hydrogen.
Far more likely, Mulally just rescued Bush from some embarrassing fumbling with a plug that obviously didn’t fit. He probably realized that if he just stood back and let the preznit fumble lamely, it would have made him (and his product) look bad.
No matter what Mulally did at that point, though, it was probably too late to avoid inspiring a rash of Hindenbush jokes.
April 8th, 2007 at 3:01 pmI am surprised. 73 posts and no one has figured out how to blame this one on Clinton….yet.
April 8th, 2007 at 3:18 pmI wonder if there will be a massive sell-off of Ford stock tomorrow….
April 8th, 2007 at 3:19 pmI am surprised. 73 posts and no one has figured out how to blame this one on Clinton…yet. comment by Briseadh_na _faire.
BNF; just wait until one or more of the resident reichwing trolls gets here. You know the ones, patrick1, michael, or firedickhead, you won’t be disappointed.
April 8th, 2007 at 3:35 pmLook at it this way folks.
At least he would have made their predictions of “Mushroom Clouds over DC” come true.
:|
BAWHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHHAHAHHAHHAAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHHAH
April 8th, 2007 at 4:06 pmOMG, If he did plug it in, he could have gone back to the year 1956 and met Doc Brown.
April 8th, 2007 at 4:36 pmAn electrical cord and a hydrogen tank are a bad combination. I guess it can be quite lethal, and I’ll try and stay away from hydrogen gas.
There’s another bad combination: helium gas and your voice box. Poor Kyle Sampson. Poor guy. It’s unfortunate Kyle bumped into childrens’ helium balloons, before his testimony the other day. I assume that’s why his voice was so high. Barry White he ain’t. Helium can really do a number on your voice box.
I just hope Alberto Gonzales doesn’t bump into a bunch of helium balloons, too. Good luck, Alberto.
I think all we’re going to hear from Alberto is a lot of hot air, anyway.
John
April 8th, 2007 at 5:34 pmGreat posts! I haven’t laughed so hard for a long time! Poor right-wingers. The humor is over their heads.
April 8th, 2007 at 6:10 pmWilly.
Just picture Bush standing there holding whats left of the power cord, looking like Wiley Coyote after the Acme bomb went off.
Picture him grinning that shit eating grin of his, only with several teeth missing and smoke trickling up from his scalp.
:P
Picture that in your mind.
April 8th, 2007 at 6:26 pmI’d like to know if this electrical cord was AC/DC?
BTW, I’m not speaking about air conditioning in DC. Can this particular electrical current go both ways–AC/DC?
John
April 8th, 2007 at 6:26 pmIf the Ford CEO had any PATRIOTISM, he would have let Bush do it.
God Bless America and the WORLD!
April 8th, 2007 at 6:40 pmWORFEUS,
I can definitely picture your description.
On second thought, it’s too bad Bush’s brain didn’t receive a jolt of electricity.
I think George W. Bush is long overdue for ECT. Whatever mental condition he apparently has, it’s time for a little tweak here and little tweak there.
It’s unfortunate that this was a non-event. I suppose at some future point Bush will need ECT, and the American taxpayers will foot the bill at a psychiatric hospital.
If Bush doesn’t need ECT, we all know thousands of our brave American soldiers will need ECT when they return from their third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh tour of duties in Iraq.
These brave soldiers are putting their lives on the line for nothing. It’s just so sad.
John
April 8th, 2007 at 6:51 pmI suppose I’ve gotten so used to everything george does being staged and in front of non-hostile audiences, it’s a wonder there was hydrogen in the car and that the cord was hot!
In any event, the sheer careless ignorance of the Secret Service and whoever set this stunt up is mind boggling.
Alas, if he had of plugged into the wrong socket, we could have had a grand FIESTA before Congress began it’s PROBE. THUNDERBIRD for everyone!
April 8th, 2007 at 6:55 pmRaven,
Ha! Ha! Funny!
I guess Bush was out of FOCUS. He was also thinking of the Texas RANGERS too much.
Hydrogen is an element. Another element is a little thing called: GOLD.
I don’t think the Bushies want to mess with Hydrogen too much, but GOLD is another story.
Bush’s FOCUS is GOLD.
John
April 8th, 2007 at 7:22 pmIt would have lovely to see him MODEL A full metal jacket…
April 8th, 2007 at 7:32 pmToo bad. After all of Pickles’ cleverness in arranging the cord…she knows he’s too fucking dumb to breathe…it was perfect until that ass-hole had to fuck it all up.
April 8th, 2007 at 8:29 pm“saves Bush’s life”- what an embarrassing item for your resume.
April 8th, 2007 at 8:32 pmDarned!
April 8th, 2007 at 9:05 pmYet another Dubya moment for Bush!
April 8th, 2007 at 9:29 pmThis brings to mind the image of George H W Bush at the super market scanner, looking like he had transported to the USS Enterprise (Not the Aircraft Carrier.). I would guess that technical savvy does not run in the family.
The campaign tried to blow this away, but the video was on every network that evening. They then tried to claim that it was some new design that weighed produce and could read mangled bar codes. Unfortunately, that technology dated from 1985 and the trade show where the event occurred was in 1992.
April 8th, 2007 at 10:47 pmHydro-electric power.
April 8th, 2007 at 11:04 pmNotice Bush’s goofy smile and Cheney’s dismissive smirk. A non-gasoline powered car is nothing but a novelty to them. They pushed tax breaks for oil companies making record profits through the last congress. They support being bogged down in Iraq for the sake of military contractors and oil conglomerates. Look at them, your leaders. Smiling.
April 9th, 2007 at 12:46 amcheney : sir I think you should wait for Alan
April 9th, 2007 at 4:34 amBush : no no it peice of cake just plug the cord in the hole
cheney taking few steps backward : sir but the wire doesnt fit in the hole
Bush pushing the wire hard into the hole : just few twists and it will go in
“cheney ready to jumb on the ground, wishing he never dodged the draft, he would have the training of voiding grenades ”
Bush : yessss here it goes
“ZZZzzzaaaaaAAAAAPPP”
Bush : oops , wrong hole
BBBOOOOOMMMM
#10 – I can’t wish ill on anyone, even our fearless leader… But I wouldn’t have cried over it.
What’s really sad is that if the righty tighties had their way, after the disaster all the tape would be confiscated of the event and it would be blamed on terrorists to be named later.
‘Cause that’s the kind of government we got.
April 9th, 2007 at 4:44 am….seems like an aide wants W offed. That person should be investigated…and maybe the 32%ers will be internalize the justifications he gives at trial
April 9th, 2007 at 7:43 amYou can just imagine the irony of the two most important oilmen getting killed by a hydrogen car exploding. Can you imagine the field day that Exxon Mobil would have had declaring alternative fuels unsafe? Yikes!
I can assure you that the White House will not allow Cheney and Bush to appear together again.
April 9th, 2007 at 8:03 am[...] [Source: Detroit News via Think Progress] [...]
April 9th, 2007 at 9:08 amSo Ford hasn’t made their product “idiot proof” yet.
Well-known Murphy’s law corollary: Nothing can be idiot-proof because one can always come up with a bigger idiot.
Or something to that effect. Of course it’ll be pretty tough to come up with a more dangerous idiot than monkey-boy George….
April 9th, 2007 at 9:50 am[...] [Source: Detroit News via Think Progress] [...]
April 9th, 2007 at 10:59 amDo you suppose, if Bush won the Darwin Award by blowing himself up plugging in a hybrid, American would commemorate a coin after him? If so, which coin?
April 9th, 2007 at 12:22 pm[...] [Source: Detroit News via Think Progress] [...]
April 9th, 2007 at 1:29 pmWhat a twist of fate it would have been: Pres and Veep “Big Oil” done in by Hydrogen.
April 9th, 2007 at 4:38 pmApril 9th, 2007 at 5:04 pm
oops, no embeds. lemme try that again:
April 9th, 2007 at 5:05 pmhttp://www.quickcomic.com/index.html?stripId=842
Doesn’t DUBYA wear a wedding ring? I just noticed that, in this picture, he’s not wearing one.
Aside from that, absolutely hilarious! Couldn’t make this stuff up!
April 9th, 2007 at 6:50 pmwhat kind of terrorist nation designs a hybrid car that will kill you if you use an electrical cord in the hydrogen tank? isn’t bush supposed to be appealing to people who have never seen an unarmed vehicle or driven a car withut mule powers?
April 9th, 2007 at 7:19 pmThis title is misleading and the story has been taken too far. There was no danger in the car blowing up. The hydrogen is under pressure and you can’t just shove anything into the interconnect to reach the hydrogen. The electrical cord also has covered female connectors that make it hard to get a spark.
If you read the quote from Mulally he doesn’t say anything about danger. Instead it sounds like he was trying to stop Bush from looking like an idiot (which seems a little pointless at this point) by trying to plug an electrical cord into the gas tank. The reporter simply didn’t understand Mulally’s comment.
April 9th, 2007 at 8:41 pmWell, the only thing this proves is that the car is too complex for even the most basic of idiots to operate. Back to the drawing board, Ford.
April 9th, 2007 at 10:03 pmI hate to interrupt things, but the last time I checked, the pronged end of an electrical cord was the one that connects to the electrical outlet.
So, if the good electrical engineers peopling this page could help me out – if Bush was holding the pronged end to “plug it in”, from where did the cord obtain the juice in order to create the supposed reaction when contacting said gas fitting?
At the very most, an error that anyone engaged in a photo op and presented with new technology could easily make. Including, I would think – most of you.
April 9th, 2007 at 11:14 pm[...] Branch represents the *majority*. If you think this is nothing important, just this weekend we almost lost Dubya this weekend when he tried to plug the power cord into the fuel socket of a hydrog…. Can anyone say "science experiment?" Someday James K. Polk will no longer be the only [...]
April 9th, 2007 at 11:44 pmKaty, its not a standard plug, its a charging cable. Its hot.
And besides, we’re just having fun with him. We even said they laid it at the wrong end of the car.
Its just funny thats all.
April 10th, 2007 at 12:37 amIn fact, Keith Olberman just showed the video, and the President never went close to the fuel tank.
But its still funny.
April 10th, 2007 at 12:51 amOh my God!! Hydrogen cars are so dangerous! Even our lovable boob leader of the free world can mix up the cables. I’m never buying one of those dangerous machines. I’m glad the Ford CEO was there to save the day and make a panicked “off the record” statement. Looks like I’m gonna stick to oil vehicles!
April 10th, 2007 at 1:54 amThere was no danger A female AC plug cannot be pushed into a pressurized gass connector. The CEO is a 39.1 million dollar retard, and the rest of you are sheep for believing this balony. get a life and get real.
April 10th, 2007 at 12:29 pm[...] what, some did take it seriously, including the usual round-up of gullible nutroot dingbats like Thinkprogress and Firedoglake who seem to know nothing about Hybrid vehicles! Funny I thought they all drove [...]
April 11th, 2007 at 4:36 pmHe made the incident up! Democracy Now reported this morning that Ford’s Mulally admits it was all just a joke.
April 12th, 2007 at 9:28 am[...] [Source: Detroit News via Think Progress] [...]
April 13th, 2007 at 1:27 pmi think that was smart john kerry should have won prez bush cheatedor sumthin!!!!!!
April 18th, 2007 at 11:47 amkerry iz at better den bush he cheated
Love his wife
April 18th, 2007 at 11:47 am