kubernetes: Misleading kubectl error: the server doesn't have a resource type "po"

Is this a BUG REPORT or FEATURE REQUEST?:

/kind bug

What happened: When using kubectl 1.9.0-beta.1+, if you run kubectl get po, while the API server is unreachable, you get the following misleading error: the server doesn't have a resource type "po".

What you expected to happen: In versions 1.9.0-alpha.3 and lower, you get the proper error: The connection to the server 127.0.0.1:1 was refused.

How to reproduce it (as minimally and precisely as possible):

$ curl -sL https://storage.googleapis.com/kubernetes-release/release/v1.9.0-beta.1/bin/linux/amd64/kubectl -o /tmp/kubectl \
&& chmod +x /tmp/kubectl \
&& /tmp/kubectl -s http://127.0.0.1:1 get po 
the server doesn't have a resource type "po"

If you try the same command with kubectl 1.9.0-alpha.3, you get the correct error message:

$ curl -sL https://storage.googleapis.com/kubernetes-release/release/v1.9.0-alpha.3/bin/linux/amd64/kubectl -o /tmp/kubectl \
&& chmod +x /tmp/kubectl \
&& /tmp/kubectl -s http://127.0.0.1:1 get po 
The connection to the server 127.0.0.1:1 was refused - did you specify the right host or port?

You also get the same error message in kubectl 1.9.0-beta.1, if you use the full resource name instead of the abbreviation:

$ curl -sL https://storage.googleapis.com/kubernetes-release/release/v1.9.0-beta.1/bin/linux/amd64/kubectl -o /tmp/kubectl \
&& chmod +x /tmp/kubectl \
&& /tmp/kubectl -s http://127.0.0.1:1 get pod
The connection to the server 127.0.0.1:1 was refused - did you specify the right host or port?

Anything else we need to know?: This is a regression between 1.9.0-alpha.3 and 1.9.0-beta.1

/sig cli