George Lakoff is not a great writer. But he's a great analyst of political communication. And, here, he's also exactly right. A friend who's an avid Obama supporter called last night to ask what I thought about Palin. He kept bringing up the very points Lakoff lists here. He kept talking about the issues. I kept saying, "You're thinking like a Democrat. This isn't about issues. It's about values." From that standpoint, Palin is a great pick. The question is whether people will continue to vote values when the issues are increasingly impinging on our lives.

This is a very serious article crouched in somewhat academic terms. When Lakoff says Palin was chosen to "activate the conservative view of the world" he is attempting to galvanize the Democratic base to the seriousness of this campaign. His message: This is a war, a war of ideals our very freedom as we know it is at stake. How well we learn this message will determine whether we get more of the same or worse or whether we restore the constitution and build a better safer America. Lakoff's article is a call to arms.