Letter to the Editor - A new name for Sen. Sales for his wall bid

From 1953 until 1966 there was a children’s television show hosted by a comedian who went by the stage name “Soupy Sales.” In 1965, upset at having to work on New Year’s Day, Sales ended his live broadcast by directing his viewers to tiptoe into their still-sleeping parents’ bedrooms and remove those “funny green pieces of paper with pictures of U.S. presidents” from their pants and pocketbooks. “Put them in an envelope and mail them to me,” Soupy instructed the children. Soon, money began arriving and Soupy found himself suspended by management and ridiculed for his actions.

Now, another Mr. Sales proposes taking $8 million from Montana taxpayers and mailing it to the southern border to build a questionable wall that the majority of Americans don’t support. In terms of legislative theater, his obvious political grandstanding could, and should, result in a poor review by management — taxpayers — and eventual ridicule — at the ballot box — as well.

Perhaps Sen. Scott Sales should have a “stage” name as a result of this absurd publicity stunt. Since Soupy is taken, how about Senseless? “Senator Senseless Sales” kind of has a nice, alliterative ring … would have made a fine character on “Lunch With Soupy.”

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Mark O’Keefe of Helena is a former Montana legislator and former state auditor