by William Skink

The Democrat bizarro world is full of people pontificating about how crazy and illogical everyone else is. They are the party of facts and logic, and the reason they get trounced is because Americans are simple beasts driven by emotions. Republicans know this and better manipulate the emotions of of the deplorables.

Jim Elliot’s “Montana Viewpoint“–formed, in part, by leading the Democratic party in Montana for 4 years–is that Democrats need to stop trying so hard to make logical, fact-based appeals to voters. He has degrees and has studied rat brains, so knows what he’s talking about.

Elliot’s viewpoint assumes Republicans have no facts or logic to draw on to make their arguments, and the party faithful fall into line with that assumption. At the end of his piece he offers this lesson to Democrats:

The lesson for Democrats is this; you may want to deal with facts, but what you have to deal with are perceptions, and perceptions are not governed by facts alone. It’s a simple lesson that any intelligent person could grasp if they wanted to. Even Democrats.

Perceptions can be influenced by strong emotions, like outrage and moral indignation. Let me give you an example.

I experienced some serious feels when I read about the plea agreement Eric Lehman is getting for his felony drug possession charge.

Remember, Lehman is the husband of the Democratic candidate running for the Office of Public Instruction, Melissa Romano, a teacher of the year who wants to oversee all the schools in Montana and the teachers, like her husband, who work in them.

Here’s a quote from the Independent Record, try and spot the most absurd part:

A former Helena elementary school teacher was sentenced to a three-year deferred sentence after pleading guilty to criminal possession of a dangerous drugs, a felony.

During an Aug. 31 traffic stop, a Montana Highway Patrol trooper discovered Eric Lehman, husband of Democratic state superintendent of public instruction candidate Melissa Romano, was found to be in possession of psilocybin mushrooms, one LSD tab, approximately 2 grams of methamphetamine and approximately a gram of cocaine, according to the arresting officer’s affidavit.

As part of the plea agreement, Lehman pleaded guilty to possession of only psilocybin mushrooms. The deputy county attorney prosecuting the case, Dan Baris, said he gave Lehman the option of choosing which drug he would be prosecuted for possessing, an opportunity he said anyone in Lehman’s situation is afforded.

The astounding fact in that last part of the quote is that Eric Lehman was GIVEN THE CHOICE of what drug he was going to be legally held accountable for.

How is THAT for the overall “perception” of this sad tale? And what does it mean of Romano’s chance next November?

Time will tell. Emotions will help decide. And the facts will get picked up or discarded, as needed, by both sides.