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.

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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!)

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 …