Margaret Carlson on the 'Cut & Run' Meme

Carlson almost gets it:

"Cut and run'' denotes cowardice and has most often been used to describe a soldier leaving a comrade to die on the battlefield. A despicable charge has been rendered merely deplorable by mindless repetition from note cards by members of Congress and talk-show hosts."

She leaves out the most important player in the process of legitimizing an extremist rightwing talking point: the media.

Media Matters explains:

"As the debate intensified over two Senate proposals calling for U.S. withdrawal from Iraq, CNN continued to hype the divisions among Democrats on the issue and persisted in depicting Republicans as "giddy" over this purported display of weakness and uncertainty. But CNN's coverage overlooked a recent display of dissention among Republicans. The network completely ignored the strong denunciations by Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) of his party's message strategy on Iraq -- the centerpiece of which appears to be to repeat over and over the accusation that the Democrats advocate "cutting and running." Specifically, during a June 21 floor statement, Hagel decried the use of "focus group-tested buzz words like 'cut and run' " and "catchy political slogans," which he said "debase the seriousness of war." Like CNN, both Fox News and MSNBC largely ignored Hagel's remarks in their coverage of the Senate deliberations."