Fox video: GOP feeling backlash from 'cut and run' rhetoric

David EdwardsPublished:
Monday October 9, 2006

Some Republicans are feeling backlash within their party for attacking Democrats as the party of "cut and run," Slate political analyst John Dickerson tells Fox News in the following video.
Until recently, the president has been "above the fray," letting others use the harsh rhetoric. He recently grabbed headlines, however, when he referred to the Democratic party as "the party of cut and run."

Dickerson says that the "cut and run" rhetorical framing has negative effects on international diplomacy. "It could [backfire]," Dickerson says, "because part of the president's strategy relies on withdrawal. In negotiation with Iraqi leaders, the president has said, his ambassador in Iraq has said, 'look, if you don't shape up, progress a little faster, we're going to move on or you're going to lose the support of the United States.' Well, under the framing of the president and his party, that would be tantamount to cutting and running."

"So, that's, of course, absurd. It wouldn't be cutting and running, but it is the way this debate has been framed in the political context and that doesn't happen in just a vacuum. There's actually diplomatic consequences for throwing around sloppy language like that."

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