Lakoff understands the Palin nomination.

[Bigmack]

.... Her nomination isn't an illness in itself, it's just a symptom of a party... and a country that deals in symbols rather than realities. This country is divided between the symbol-driven and the reality-driven. The symbol-driven vote - and act politically - like Pavlov's dog, responding to the symbols that surround the Repub party, while the reality-driven examine issues and develop policy goals.

Lakoff seems to say that we can win if we just appeal to the symbol-driven folks at their level. I dunno. Rush and the Faux Snooze Bloviators have a lock on their minds and a big headstart.

This is a must read...

- - - - - - - - - - - - -snips....
The Palin Choice: the Reality of the Political mind

The strength of the Obama campaign has been the seamless marriage of reality and symbolic thought....... The Republican strength has been mostly symbolic. The McCain campaign is well aware of how Reagan and W won-running on character: values, communication, (apparent) authenticity, trust, and identity - not issues and policies. That is how campaigns work, and symbolism is central.

    Conservative family values are strict and apply via metaphorical thought to the nation: good vs. evil, authority, the use of force, toughness and discipline, individual (versus social) responsibility, and tough love. Hence, social programs are immoral because they violate discipline and individual responsibility. Guns and the military show force and discipline. Man is above nature; hence no serious environmentalism. The market is the ultimate financial authority, requiring market discipline. In foreign policy, strength is use of the force. In fundamentalist religion, the Bible is the ultimate authority; hence no gay marriage. Such values are at the heart of radical conservatism. This is how John McCain was raised and how he plans to govern. And it is what he shares with Sarah Palin.  Palin is the mom in the strict father family, upholding conservative values.

  Yes, the McCain-Palin ticket is weak on the major realities. But it is strong on the symbolic dimension of politics that Republicans are so good at marketing. Just arguing the realities, the issues, the hard truths should be enough in times this bad, but the political mind and its response to symbolism cannot be ignored. The initial Democratic response to Palin - the response based on realities alone - indicates that many Democrats have not learned the lessons of the Reagan and Bush years.

    They have not learned the nature of conservative populism. A great many working-class folks are what I call "bi-conceptual," that is, they are split between conservative and progressive modes of thought. Conservative on patriotism and certain social and family issues, which they have been led to see as "moral", progressive in loving the land, living in communities of care, and practical kitchen table issues like mortgages, health care, wages, retirement, and so on.

    Conservative theorists won them over in two ways: Inventing and promulgating the idea of "liberal elite" and focusing campaigns on social and family issues. They have been doing this for many years and have changed a lot of brains through repetition. Palin will appeal strongly to conservative populists, attacking Obama and Biden as pointy-headed, tax-and-spend, latte liberals. The tactic is to divert attention from difficult realities to powerful symbolism.

Democrats, being Democrats, will mostly talk about the realities nonstop without paying attention to the dimensions of values and symbolism. Democrats, in addition, need to call an extremist an extremist: to shine a light on the shared anti-democratic ideology of McCain and Palin, the same ideology shared by Bush and Cheney. They share values antithetical to our democracy. That needs to be said loud and clear, if not by the Obama campaign itself, then by the rest of us who share democratic American values.

http://www.truthout.org/article/george-lakoff-warns-dems-reality-based-arguments

[annabanana]

1. "authenticity"

Once you can fake that, you're set.

[Solly Mack]

2. K&R

[SpiralHawk]

3. Republicon propagandists have a lock, because...

They have had the field to themselves, and they own the major corporate media propganda catapults. Dems have vainly appealed to logic and intellect -- shooting way over the heads of many, and generally reaching damn few. They need to get Major Symbolic Meme Mojo going. Now. For the sake of America. Stop the Homelander Know Nothing Totalitarian Party.

[onethatcares]

5. I'll agree, because the moment

you bring up serious discussions about healthcare, education, ending the war, the United States position in world affairs, you'll hear, "That's boring" or "I don't have time to read that much" and a host of other excuses, then they wonder why their jobs at vicegrip have gone to China.

[Growler]

4. K&R