While I was preparing to include him with Begala and Carville as just cashing in on the low tide of Democratic aspirations, I figured I'd throw in my ten cents on the premise of both Lakoff books Whose Freedom? & Don't Think of an Elephant since you seem to be seriously interested in his viewpoints.

Guys like this abound in the media/political think tank crowd. Linguists manipulating words for desired associative responses. And Lakoff plays liberals like a finely tuned Stradivarius. The liberals don't realize he's pushing their buttons in order to make a buck.

The "Strict Father" versus "nurturant parent" re-characterization of left versus right is tailor made for liberals and dates back half a century!

"Strict Father" is mean and abusive!

He disapproves of your _________ ! (e.g. drug usage, casual sex, sexual orientation, friends, abortion, hemp growing, left-wing politics, etcetera)

"Nurturant parent" is loving and kind

He/She He/He or She/She approves of you unconditionally and LOVES your __________ ! (e.g. drug usage, casual sex, sexual orientation, friends, abortion, hemp growing, left-wing politics, etcetera)

That this is all a bunch of blatant sub-conscious and conscious manipulation of the youthful formative emotions and insecurity complexes engendered by liberals is lost on the left who are only too eager to create a mental image association with their dysfunctional relationship with their fathers with the Republican party and conservatives.

The more they hate their dad (or mom) the more this type of thing works.

"Bush is your abusive, critical father. Your father hates your guts and is disappointed in the way you turned out! Don't you just want to kick his a**! (or at least put him in his place!)"

Lakoff is like an amateur psychiatrist playing mental games with his leftist readers. He tells them what they want to hear and reinforces their ego with necessary ego-building.

"You are the caring, responsible parent. You are tolerant, kind and wonderful to the environment and animals. You are a victim of all the mean daddies of the world which are embodied by the GOP and conservatives now leading this nation to destruction. There is absolutely nothing wrong with your ________ .(e.g. drug usage, casual sex, sexual orientation, friends, abortion, hemp growing, left-wing politics, etcetera)"

Guys like Lakoff are a dime a thousand. Their demographic targeted rhetoric finds eager ears. Yet nothing new is being presented. Lakoff's ideas are recycled 50s beatnik viewpoints. Lakoff was born in 1941 and was 16 in 1957. He was brought up to dislike Ike and conservatives, despise Nixon (Ikes lapdog) and the family unit was already under attack back then by the Berkeley crowd.

Fifty years later the "beat" or beatnik message finds new ears (and old ones) who don't realize that everything Lakoff has presented is not new and only the names have been changed. Instead of Ike being your strict, disapproving morally-repressed President - it's Bush. Instead of Nixon being the manipulating mastermind, it's now Cheney. Instead of abortion as the centerpiece of your inalienable rights it's gay marriage.

Books like this have a built-in audience and guaranteed sales for every individual who has an insecurity/inferiority complex due to _________. (e.g. drug usage, casual sex, sexual orientation, friends, abortion, hemp growing, left-wing politics, etcetera) That's millions of book buying customers!

It's like a depressed overweight woman going out and buying a gallon of cookie dough ice cream to make herself feel better. Lakoff's books are just ice cream for the liberal soul - a sweet indulgence that pushes aside the various neuroses for a short while and makes them feel good about themselves.

And unlike the ice cream, the "feel good" doesn't necessarily end after they're through. It keeps on giving, like a secret compliment that keeps stroking the readers' egos.

Whereas a post like this one does just the opposite and turns me into a "strict father" figure - critical, prejudiced, unsupporting and unkind!

;-)