The funniest news lede I’ve read in a long time:

Credit Ford Motor Co. CEO Alan Mulally with saving the leader of the free world from self-immolation.

Apparently, our befuddled prez was about to stick an electrical plug into the hydrogen tank of a Ford hydrogen-electric plug-in hybrid. This act, if completed, would have generated Hindenburg-esque bad publicity and probably made Cheney our next president. (Eep!)

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To make the save, Mulally apparently “violated all the protocols,” grabbing the president’s arm and steering him away from the plug.

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Maybe that’s exactly what Bush needs: someone who’s not afraid to step in to steer him away from stuff that’s eventually going to blow up in his — and our — face.

Wonder if Mulally would accept a pay cut …