Poor Joe Six-Pack.  It used to be that instant stardom afforded you 15 minutes of fame.  But I think Joe Six-Pack got cheated.  He was just passing the five-minute mark when along came Joe the Plumber (no relation) to bump him out of the national spotlight.  The “new Joe” became John McCain’s new BFF last night.  The Arizona Senator paraded his new hero out to convince viewers and voters that he connects with the everyman, the middle-class folk, the hard-workin’, lunch-pail guy.  

Speaking directly to Joe was effective the first time.  Okay, maybe a second time for reinforcement was a sound strategy.  But when the Sultan of the Clogged Sewer Line became virtually McCain’s sole focus, don’t you think all those electricians, roofers and landscapers started to feel left out?  Towards the end of the debate, McCain started to resemble your old uncle at Thanksgiving who, after getting a laugh from the punch line of his new joke, repeats the punch line several times too many over the course of the meal.  The “Plumber Technique” (as I’m sure mass communications PhD’s will refer to it years from now) really went down the sink hole when McCain tried to discuss Joe’s health care situation.  By then, the device had morphed into tired schtick.

Lesson to be learned?  Good techniques go bad when overused.  Perhaps McCain should carry a government warning: Please apply coached techniques in moderation.