Dana Milbank: "It's Time to Cut and Run From 'Cut and Run'"

Dana Milbank has a great article in today's WaPo about the relentless use of the phrase "cut and run" how it's become a Republican meme. Note this exchange:

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), an expert windsurfer, had heard quite enough of this nautical term. "Cut and run, cut and run, cut and run, cut and run -- that's their phrase," he told Don Imus. "My plan is not cut and run. Their plan is lie and die."

Fox News was on the story. "John Kerry calls it 'lie and die,' " anchor Bill Hemmer told Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). "What do you say to that?"

"I think the sound-bite war is not going to be an effective way to fight the war," the sensible senator said.

Except that it is: the reason we keep hearing about "cutting and running" is that it's working (when was the last time you heard about "the struggle against violent extremism?") It's why Karl Rove used it last week to slam Murtha (in what Frank Rich described as a "drive-by swift-boating"), and it's in an integral part of his plan for the fall elections (presented in January to Republicans). Its why Democrats are using it defensively, to prove what they're not doing. Proof that it's working can be clearly seen in the obligatory media pickup across the board; I wrote about the "cut and run" mantra this wekend in RussertWatch, noting how much Russert uses the phrase, but he's not alone. The reason it's a meme is because it's catchy, and it encapsulates everything the Republicans want to say about the war in three simple words, and the message is getting out, and sticking. It's why Harold Smith of White Plains, New York thinks that's what it means to leave Iraq.

Time to cut and run from cut and run? Sounds like a great idea, but go ahead and try.

Update: See HuffPo's Steve Young on this point as well.