Former WashPost Editor Wants a President Taft Racing Mascot 'Impeached'

Ken Shepherd was amazed on Thursday that Washington Post "On Faith" diva Sally Quinn took 48 days to slam Dr. Ben Carson for the alleged rudeness of his National Prayer Breakfast speech. But that's nothing. In Sunday's Post, Metro columnist (and former Metro section editor) Robert McCartney trashed the Washington Nationals for picking William Howard Taft as their new racing president...65 days after the announcement. 

"This mascot ought to be impeached," screeched the headline. The other four racing presidents at Nationals Park are on Mount Rushmore, while "Taft doesn't merit being on a pebble." McCartney complained the "gutsy" move would have had an FDR mascot wheeling behind the race every day:

Franklin D. Roosevelt was No. 1, of course. By merit, he unquestionably should have been the fifth racer. He led the nation through the Great Depression and to victory in World War II. That counts for a tad more than Taft’s antitrust suit against U.S. Steel.

Admittedly, a mascot portraying the polio-stricken FDR would have had to race in a wheelchair. It could have been a gutsy gesture toward inclusiveness.

If Nationals management wasn’t ready for that, however, then how about James Madison? A key architect of the Constitution, he was No. 6 on the Siena list.

Or, for a modern candidate, what about No. 10 Dwight D. Eisenhower? He defeated Hitler on the Western Front, built the interstate highway system and warned us about the military-industrial complex.

McCartney apparently wasn't willing to consider that most Nats fans probably wouldn't be able to tell Jefferson and Madison apart. One can only imagine what the Post would have written if the Nats added a racing Reagan to the group. McCartney ended this column with a tantrum: "What a lame decision. I hope Taft trips on that goofy mustache."

So why did this tantrum take two months to erupt?