‘Deadly babies’ and scary Mexicans; the mail we get from Sen. Marshall and Rep. Estes

You might as well read Rep. Ron Estes’ and Sen. Roger Marshall’s political ads. You paid for them.

Wichita-area voters got some slick mailings from the congressman and senator this past week.

Marshall’s mailer, proclaiming his strong opposition to abortion, is “Prepared, published and mailed at taxpayer expense,” according to the fine print.

Estes’ mailing, which mostly shows him shaking hands and posing with Border Patrol agents on a trip to Texas, is “Paid for by official funds authorized by the House of Representatives.” I’ll translate that — it’s taxpayer money.

If you don’t have time or didn’t get Estes’ mailer — or just chucked it as junk mail — I can sum it up for you: Mexicans are scary. It’s Joe Biden’s fault. I went to Texas on your dime for a photo op. Did I mention Mexicans are scary?

But amid all the scary Mexican stuff, Estes never actually says what he wants to do about immigration.

He makes vague references to bills that never made it to the House floor, but doesn’t say what they were — that and he’s part of a border security caucus that apparently doesn’t get anything done.

Ironically, one of his bullet points is “1,104 illegally purchased or stolen firearms intercepted heading to Mexico.” Maybe the Mexicans should be building walls to protect themselves from us.

It’s no accident that Estes decided this is the perfect time to share his vacation photos with everyone at public expense.

He’s up for re-election on Nov. 8 and federal law prohibits taxpayer-funded mass mailings within 60 days of an election, when the incumbent congressperson is on the ballot.

Congressional mail isn’t postmarked, but judging by when these arrived, it’s a fair bet they were dropped off at the post office 61 days before Election Day.

And then there’s Marshall.

He’s not up for re-election for another four years, so I don’t why he sent a mailing.

But it’s as overtly political as Estes’.

“Doc,” which is the only way he refers to himself in the mailer, pledges his undying allegiance to the pro-life cause and brags about 24 bills he’s co-sponsored to limit women’s access to abortions or pregnancy-ending pills.

Bear in mind this is the same doctor who last year was peddling the myth that COVID vaccines contained “fetal parts.”

Read the room, Rog.

Your constituents literally just voted to keep abortion legal and it wasn’t even close.

But reading the mailer was worth the time it took because it includes a hilarious gaffe.

It accuses Biden of pushing “policies that are unsafe for mothers and deadly babies.”

The only deadly baby I’ve ever seen was the one in the campy horror movie “It’s Alive.” He’d be 48 this year and is probably either a wealthy political consultant or a member of Congress by now.

The really wack part of all this is that these mailers are perfectly legal, thanks to a congressional perk called the “franking privilege.”

The privilege allows congressfolk to print their signature on mass mailings in lieu of postage and send them to constituents, ostensibly to “inform” them on government issues.

The mailings are required to be nonpolitical. But the people who decide what’s political are the same people who send them, so you can guess how that’s enforced.

Countless times, we’ve heard Estes and Marshall carry on about how they’d stop wasteful spending in Washington if only they weren’t stymied by those pesky tax-and-spend Democrats.

Well, Ron and Roger, if you’re actually serious about cutting government waste, start in your own office.

Quit spending our money sending us self-serving junk mail that screams “VOTE FOR ME!” every way it can without using those exact words.

It’s your mail, it’s your decision, and this time, you can’t hide behind “the Democrats made me do it.”