Hot Stupid has some advice for the McCain campaign re: the tire-inflation gibberish:
Jim Geraghty has a note to McCain surrogates: explain the gag.
Yes. Yes. There is no more surefire way to explain a punchline's hilarity than to dedicate the entire resources of a presidential campaign to explaining precisely why it's funny. This procedure is also guaranteed to enhance a particular witticism's political efficacy.
Shazam!