Why not the Maytag repairman?

THE QUESTION du jour as I started my day was whether Joe the Plumber was skilled enough to plug the growing  number of holes in John McCain's foundering Ship of State.  The debate offered a classic example of how one can become an instant celebrity simply by having one's name mentioned 15 times by a presidential candidate (Mc Cain)  in the span of 90 minutes (plus five  times by McCain's opponent, Barack Obama).  JTP was quickly recruited for the morning talk shows to reassure the viewing public that national television does, indeed, report the critical news  that shapes our daily lives.  So now JTP will join other famous pop celebrities in the history books, including the Pizza Deliveryman, Mack the Knife and the Maytag Repairman, none of whom appeared on the TV  chat-arounds  as bona fide news sources.   Are you still with me?

But based on the early reviews, the reliance on an unknown plumber to rescue your campaign failed to impress  the focus groups, which overwhelmingly gave the debate to Obama.  In fairness, however, I  should caution you that McCain had a super observer in his corner. An enthusiastic Mitt Romney went so far to say that "it was a great night for John MccCain." Inasmuch as a Romney was swamped in the primaries I suspect he is still humbly serving out his time for saying some nasty things about Mac in the primaries.  

A final word on Joe the Plumber:  The plumbers union - the United Association - has already endorsed Obama.

McCain, who had earlier promised to give Obama a "whipping" in their final meeting, was tight-lipped tense with a locked sneer that outperformed Bush's smirk during Dubya's theatrical heyday.  Want to talk about the economy?  Great.  Let's do.  What about your friend Bill Ayers?  Oh, you mean the one who served on a board set  up by the super-rich Republican Annenberg Family.  Yeah, I was on the same board.  So what? Next.

Gergen, the political guru, described McCain's demeanor as "almost an exercise in anger management."

All of this occurred on the day that the stock market dropped more than 700 points at the same  time that the McCain campaign was shutting down its operations in  Maine and Wisconsin. 

At this late date in the campaign it would be fair to we ask whether the Maytag repairman,  so much more identifiable  in the public mind with a long history of service,  might not have been a better choice  to revive the angry  senator from Arizona?