Ford CEO apologizes after joke on Bush blows up

[RamboLiberal]

Source: Reuters

Ford Motor Co. Chief Executive Alan Mulally is no longer laughing about his suggestion that he saved President Bush's life during a recent White House visit.

The No. 2 U.S. automaker on Tuesday apologized after Mulally said his claim of intervening to prevent U.S. President George W. Bush from plugging an electrical cord into the hydrogen tank of an experimental Ford vehicle had been meant as a joke.

Ford said Mulally never expected the story he told journalists in New York last week would be taken seriously.

The CEO found himself in an embarrassing situation when the story was featured on blogs and even in mainstream media like the Financial Times, which said "he may have saved the incumbent of the Oval Office from blowing himself up."



Read more: http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyid=2007-04-11T191736Z_01_N11231422_RTRUKOC_0_US-FORD-BUSH-JOKE.xml&src=rss&rpc=22

[Sequoia]

1. Ha, he probably DID save him.

And it's "incompetent" of the Oval Office.

[RamboLiberal]

4. Olbermann Debunked this story Monday night

Showed the video - the incident didn't happen. Either the CEO doesn't know how to tell a joke or it was stupid reporting.

[Sequoia]

15. Pffft....!

[Canuckistanian]

2. Another "botched joke"?

Mr. Mulally, the Secret Service is on line two....

[patrice]

3. More evidence that Her Shrub is in free fall.

People don't even have to be sworn "Bush Haters" like us "libbies", they will believe anything about him.

[MrModerate]

5. He "never expected the story he told journalists in New York . . ."

To blow up in his face? (lame joke intended) And this guy is a senior exec with Ford?

That explains a lot about the state of the American auto industry.

[damntexdem]

10. Well, if it keeps blowing up on him, figure that his incompetence will cause Dubya to ...

appoint him Secretary of Transportation.

("He's the guy who saved my life, and now he's in my cabinet.") LOL!

[bemildred]

6. Is this the guy that got $400 million or whatever it was? nt

[muntrv]

11. He got paid $28 million for just 4 MONTHS worth of work. Ford's not turning

a profit.

[cliss]

7. Actually, this is funny.

I love it. (shows ya how 'loyal' these snakes can be, as well).

They shoul have a contest as to which CEO can tell the most abusive joke about Bush. And then have a nice Grand Prize for the best one.

Go get 'im.

[Connie_Corleone]

8. What's funny (and sad) is that people believed it.

Only Bush could be that stupid to blow himself up.

[fujiyama]

9. Didn't he receive $67 million dollars being at the company for 6 months?

after they posted a loss of over 10 BILLION dollars (how a company can fuck up that much is beyond me)?

[damntexdem]

12. How can they lose money that fast?

Well, it starts with a willingness to pay an incompetent $67 million for 6 months.

[fujiyama]

13. You got it

That and making vehicles that eventually have to be recalled for having an ABS that causes fires (500,000+ recalls for the Ford Escape just announced)...Maybe, just maybe a few million more dollars could have gone in averting that problem in the first place...and they wonder why people aren't buying their products.

[Ilsa]

14. Hey, I could screw up their company for a much lower salary. nt

[noonwitch]

16. I think it's a funny joke, if he did say it.

I personally hope this guy does save Ford in the long run. When they hired him, the local hype was that he had saved another company, was it McDonald-Douglas? My memory fails me, except that it was an airplane manufacturer. Anyways, if Ford went belly-up it would devastate Michigan and Detroit, and I don't think anyone here really wants to see that happen.

[truthisfreedom]

17. This guy only proved that he's as big a goofball as bush is.

Peter Principle in action.

"In a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence."

The problem with this principle is that when corruption and nepotism is involved, people like bush can be incompetent at every level and continue to rise. I believe the principle that covers this singularity is "shit floats."