the kicker

Mrs. Todd The Hot Tub Saleswoman

November 24, 2008

Joe The Plumber? Meet Chuck Todd’s Mom The Hot Tub Saleswoman. And she lives in a swing state, too.

On MSNBC this morning, Todd shared the following with his fellow Morning Joe regulars during a discussion of economy-inspired “fear on Main Street:”

TODD: My mother has a small business selling hot tubs. They haven’t sold one. They can’t sell any. Nobody is buying this stuff…

Which, I guess, qualifies as oversharing on Morning Joe, as Todd was razzed throughout the morning (Your Mama sells hot tubs-style).

LAWRENCE O’DONNELL: I’m still processing Chuck Todd’s mother selling hot tubs.

TODD: This is one of those middle-of-the-road luxury items. First thing to go. She is a small business owner. It is a real-world example, you guys. No mocking. My mother. My mother.

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O’DONNELL: No. I am just processing this. It tells me something. I’m not sure what.

MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Images come into your mind. I know it …

Later in the morning, Time‘s Jay Carney got into it:

CARNEY: I’m in an ice box. I need a hot tub…

O’DONNELL: Hey, we know just the place. Chuck…

TODD: Please.

O’DONNELL: It’s not going away, Chuck. It’s not going away.

TODD: It’s my mother…

Also joining the fun, by phone, was senior Obama adviser David Axelrod. Morning Joe‘s Mike Barnicle jokingly asked Axelrod if there was “any chance you and I coulld get a billion to buy the Cubs?”

Axelrod: I’m reserving that billion to revive the hot tub industry…

[Laughter all around]

TODD: They could use some stimulus down there. She lives in a swing district in the I-4 corridor, brother….

AXELROD: I heard before, Chuck, you were in the tank, but I didn’t realize what they meant by it.

Liz Cox Barrett is a writer at CJR.