Here is a nice little pamphlet on how political rhetoric works, by a big name in cognitive linguistics. He calls it framing, some would call it mapping, but the main point (for me) is that facts alone have little persuasive effect on the public. They have to be accompanied by a frame of reference that conforms with the audience's values. I wish someone answered the bigger question: where do the values come from? How is it possible that people vote for a choice which serves dramatically against their self-interest? One would think that one's position in society - in one word, life - would gradually shape one's values. Lakoff's argument implies that it barely has an effect.
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