Think Progress

Ford CEO saves President Bush’s life.

By Nico Pitney on Apr 8th, 2007 at 11:01 am

Ford CEO saves President Bush’s life.

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?”

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123 Responses to “Ford CEO saves President Bush’s life.”

  1. s Says:

    Talk about tunnel vision. It's "can't see the forest for the trees time." Too bad it's killing so many innocent people.


  2. rk Says:

    Thank you for saving us from President Dick Cheney!


  3. owlbear1 Says:

    “I wanted the president to make sure he plugged into the electricity, not into the hydrogen ..."

    Quantum Mechanics provides an entertaining 'thought experiment'.


  4. Raven Says:

    Better stay with the chain saw, dubious....


  5. ohboy Says:

    lol 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.


  6. Zooey Says:

    It'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?


  7. Raven Says:

    Looks like Chainee there behind Dubious... if there had been a "whooops", the Hon. Nancy would have gotten an important phone call...
    (sigh)


  8. Raven Says:

    Is that the hand sanitizer there in Alan' hand?


  9. JohnDWoodSr Says:

    What Malally did burns ME up! What's the name of that car anyway, the Hindenburg Jr.?


  10. Dagmar Says:

    Thank you for saving us from President Dick Cheney!

    Look! Cheney was standing right next to him! We just missed swearing in President Pelosi!


  11. GSD Says:

    Cheney 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


  12. Raven Says:

    Caption:

    George: "But, but, the prong is upside down!"

    Dick: "Do it!, do it!"

    Alan: "I wish I had stayed on the assembly line...."


  13. Just an average guy Says:

    Its 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?


  14. dlet Says:

    These cars are that f-ing dangerous? Who needs terrorists? Just a bunch of idiots plugging their cars in wrong will make a few headlines.


  15. TheToonGuy Says:

    So easy, a monkey could operate it.


  16. Fools on the Hill Says:

    So Ford hasn't made their product "idiot proof" yet.


  17. oldtree Says:

    how 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?


  18. Marie Says:

    Bush 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.


  19. Marie Says:

    #15
    LOL


  20. Just an average guy Says:

    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.


  21. CONservative Says:

    Alan 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!!


  22. txtarheel Says:

    I will never buy another ford...how dare he touch the prezidiot and stop him from getting plugged in.


  23. Mutant Spider Says:

    The 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.


  24. David. O. Says:

    #2- Nah, cheney was right there, too! We coulda had Nancy for President!


  25. Mutant Spider Says:

    so the Ford is deadly?


  26. old hack Says:

    Noone ever wished for Clintons death so passivley


  27. Raven Says:

    Fantasizing
    of
    republican's
    demise


  28. Jim Source Says:

    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.


  29. CONservative Says:

    I 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!


  30. tomj Says:

    So 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.


  31. Chris Says:

    You see? These kind of cars are dangerous! We should consider keeping the much-safer petroleum burning cars.




  32. unbelievable Says:

    What, they learned nothing from the Pinto?


  33. Raven Says:

    Were it not for Alan's FOCUS, George would have had Dick ESCORT him to the great RANCHERO in the sky..........


  34. PeeJ Says:

    I'll never buy another Ford!


  35. unbelievable Says:

    As if we needed further proof of Bush's idiocy?

    Well, at least this will be one thread that the trolls won't touch. :D


  36. Juan C Says:

    They will find a way to relate this with Iran.


  37. joe cantwell Says:

    this is troll proof!


  38. Juan C Says:

    Were 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! :)


  39. Juan C Says:

    Probably, 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.


  40. Gerald Gibson Jr Says:

    If 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


  41. kdaddy Says:

    A few minutes later Mulally had to stop him from trying to drive off with the cord still plugged in.


  42. Laura Says:

    DAMN!!!


  43. jillian Says:

    Al Gore wins an Oscar.
    W almost wins a "Darwin"


  44. torque Says:

    Caption:

    ZZAAAAPPPP!!!!

    (if only)


  45. Uncle Ho Says:

    Mulally-you stupid f*ck, you should have left the room instead.


  46. Uncle Ho Says:

    #2 rk; where have you been in the last 6 years?,for that amount of time , we have had Prez Cheney.


  47. david Says:

    Now 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?


  48. unbelievable Says:

    They will find a way to relate this with Iran.
    Comment by Juan C — April 8, 2007 @ 12:11 pm

    No doubt


  49. WORFEUS Says:

    Whats the last word George W Bush will say before the end of the world?

    :|

    "What's this button do?"


  50. unbelievable Says:

    Al Gore wins an Oscar.
    W almost wins a “Darwin”
    Comment by jillian — April 8, 2007 @ 12:19 pm

    LOL!


  51. Kevin Good Says:

    Bush misses the good old when you could just light a match to see how much gas was left in the tank.


  52. Uncle Ho Says:

    to clarify #47, Bush is a figurehead, the village idiot from Texas, the evil 5-deferment Dickhead Cheney is the puppetmaster pulling Bush's strings.


  53. WORFEUS Says:

    Bush 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.


  54. unbelievable Says:

    Seriously - 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...


  55. Keith H. Says:

    Surprising that he didn't try to plug it into his own ear.


  56. Jim Source Says:

    "Bush blows himself up; approval rating surges 3 percent."


  57. WORFEUS Says:

    Well, we probably shouldn't be too worried.

    Rumor has it he seldom gets it in the hole.


  58. jinglesnbells Says:

    damn!


  59. veritas Says:

    Will 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.


  60. S.D. Says:

    Likely 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!!!
    (tackles president and drags him away)


  61. shane Says:

    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.


  62. 186k Per Second » Fords Extreemly Unsafe Hybrids and Disregard for Saftey Says:

    [...] 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 [...]


  63. Gerald Gibson Jr Says:

    Seriously - 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.


  64. GodfryDaniel Says:

    Go ahead George, plug it in. It's so easy even a caveman could do it.


  65. WORFEUS Says:

    This ones a keeper.

    This is the funniest thing I've heard all week.

    I hope it makes the evening news on Monday.


  66. Keith H. Says:

    Hey . . . 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 !


  67. barfly Says:

    Laura Bush must have smiled, remembering George's similar error on their honeymoon.


  68. joe Says:

    Dumbass.

    that Ford guy's a hero though.


  69. tomj Says:

    Dumb and Dumber!


  70. Zooey Says:

    Laura Bush must have smiled, remembering George’s similar error on their honeymoon.
    Comment by barfly

    Ouch. :D


  71. GaPeach103 Says:

    Dumbya 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.


  72. Raymond Funamoto Says:

    Alan 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!!!!!


  73. Fool Zero Says:

    I'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.


  74. Briseadh_na_faire Says:

    I am surprised. 73 posts and no one has figured out how to blame this one on Clinton....yet.


  75. Briseadh_na_faire Says:

    I wonder if there will be a massive sell-off of Ford stock tomorrow....


  76. Uncle Ho Says:

    I 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.


  77. I WORFEUS Says:

    Look at it this way folks.

    At least he would have made their predictions of "Mushroom Clouds over DC" come true.

    :|

    BAWHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHHAHAHHAHHAAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHHAH


  78. gooderservice Says:

    OMG, If he did plug it in, he could have gone back to the year 1956 and met Doc Brown.


  79. John Gilpins Says:

    An 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


  80. Willy Says:

    Great posts! I haven't laughed so hard for a long time! Poor right-wingers. The humor is over their heads.


  81. WORFEUS Says:

    Willy.

    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.


  82. John Gilpins Says:

    I'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


  83. Mr. Bush Goes To Hell Says:

    If the Ford CEO had any PATRIOTISM, he would have let Bush do it.

    God Bless America and the WORLD!


  84. John Gilpins Says:

    WORFEUS,

    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


  85. Raven Says:

    I 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!


  86. John Gilpins Says:

    Raven,

    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


  87. Raven Says:

    It would have lovely to see him MODEL A full metal jacket...


  88. barrelhse Says:

    Too 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.


  89. barrelhse Says:

    "saves Bush's life"- what an embarrassing item for your resume.


  90. JPV Says:

    Darned!


  91. Lee Says:

    Yet another Dubya moment for Bush!


  92. WaltTheMan Says:

    This 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.


  93. ForTruth Says:

    Hydro-electric power.


  94. Paul Says:

    Notice 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.


  95. Hannipal Says:

    cheney : sir I think you should wait for Alan
    Bush : 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


  96. DM Says:

    #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.


  97. pablo Says:

    ....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


  98. Jay Severin has a small pen1s Says:

    You 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.



  99. Gary Kleppe Says:

    So 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....



  100. chadwick Says:

    Do 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?



  101. RLK Says:

    What a twist of fate it would have been: Pres and Veep "Big Oil" done in by Hydrogen.




  102. JKap Says:

    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!


  103. peace to the bekaa Says:

    what 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?


  104. nyler Says:

    This 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.


  105. Jordan Says:

    Well, 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.


  106. Kate Says:

    I 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.


  107. Hypography Science Forums - History cares about presidents Says:

    [...] 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 [...]


  108. WORFEUS Says:

    Katy, 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.


  109. WORFEUS Says:

    In fact, Keith Olberman just showed the video, and the President never went close to the fuel tank.

    But its still funny.


  110. David Says:

    Oh 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!


  111. Mentalmigits Says:

    There 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.


  112. 186k Per Second » Ford Hybrid Joke Exposes Nutroots for the Fools They Are Says:

    [...] 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 [...]


  113. nick Says:

    He made the incident up! Democracy Now reported this morning that Ford's Mulally admits it was all just a joke.



  114. kong Says:

    i think that was smart john kerry should have won prez bush cheatedor sumthin!!!!!!


  115. kong Says:

    kerry iz at better den bush he cheated

    Love his wife



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