The political horse race analogy went too far.
The lead editorial "No photo finish for Clinton" in Thursday's Tribune played off Hillary Clinton's loss in the North Carolina primary and tied it to the fate of Eight Belles, the horse that was put down after breaking her front ankles in the Kentucky Derby.
This was the beginning paragraph:
"The only filly in the crowded field crossed the finish line second, but the fans who'd bet on her still had one last gasp of hope. Perhaps some fortuitous technicality would disqualify the first-place finisher. But things got worse instead of better. We're talking about Eight Belles, who was euthanized Saturday after almost winning the Kentucky Derby. But we're thinking about Hillary Clinton."
Notwithstanding the playful, even clever, writing of the editorial, it was wrong, I believe, to use language that conflates the presidential race and the sad need to euthanize a female horse, ending with this sentence: "There's no reason to wait until August to put Clinton, and the rest of us, out of our misery."It made me queasy. The imagery would never have been used if the linkage between the two events was not gender. You cannot imagine using a similar analogy about race in the case of Barack Obama or about age when referring to John McCain. . . .
They could've used a more tasteful metaphor.