SPEECH, SPEECH

Who said 'We won't cut and run, we'll stay til the job is done'? If you're not sure, it is probably because many politicians and commentators have been using the phrase or similar of late... maybe they just all use the same speech writer?

When 'cut and run' became a rout
We're not going to cut and run," President George Bush said last month, "from the people who long for freedom." The next day, John McCain asked rhetorically, "Is it the time to panic, to cut and run?" His answer, as you might expect, was, "Absolutely not." And a week later, John Kerry used the ringing derogation as a compound adjective: "I don't believe in a cut-and-run philosophy."
The phrase circles the English-speaking world. "If we cut and run," warned Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain, "their country would be at the mercy of warring groups." And the Australian prime minister, John Howard, answered a question about an "exit strategy" with "We don't have a cut-and-run strategy."
Paul Lacey expressed the wonderment of many: ... "Doesn't it seem time to examine where cut and run comes from and why it has taken on the resonance it has? Why is it worse to cut and run?" ...
The phrase, imputing panic [...], is always pejorative. Nobody, not even those who urge leaders to "bring our troops home," will say, "I think we ought to cut and run." It is a phrase imputing cowardice, synonymous with bug out (probably coined in World War II but popularized in the Korean conflict); both are said in derogation of a policy to be opposed with the utmost repugnance.
Eleven years ago, as many in the United States urged a pullout of U.S. troops from Somalia, General Colin Powell said, "I don't think we should cut and run because things have gotten a little tough." ...
The nautical metaphor was defined in the 1794 "Elements and Practice of Rigging and Seamanship" as "to cut the cable and make sail instantly, without waiting to weigh anchor." Sailors extended the metaphor to fit other hasty, though not panicky, departures: Melville, in his 1850 novel, "White-Jacket," had a midshipman cry out, "Jack Chase cut and run!" about a buddy who ran away with a seductive lady. Tennyson wrote to his wife, Emily, in 1864: "I dined at Gladstone's yesterday - Duke and Duchess there … but I can't abide the dinners … I shall soon have to cut and run."
That lighthearted sense has since disappeared. Like the word quagmire, the phrase has gained an accusatory edge in politics and war.

References:
The United States will not cut and run in Iraq despite the accelerated timetable for ending the military occupation and handing back political power to the Iraqis, President Bush said in an interview that aired Sunday in Great Britain.
Bush pledges he won't "cut and run" from Iraq
President George W. Bush has pledged that the United States will not "cut and run" from Iraq where guerrilla attacks have sharply escalated in the seven months since the fall of Saddam Hussein.
Aust must not cut and run in Iraq: Fed Govt
Australien Foreign Minister ALEXANDER DOWNER: Look, if we all cut and run, we'll leave Iraq as a failed state. If we leave Iraq as a failed state, it'll become a haven for terrorists.
Cut-and-run or needed exit strategy: Parliament argues over troops
The Government's countering Opposition Leader Mark Latham's promise by calling it uninformed and a cut-and-run approach, and labelling it un-Australian. ...
JOHN HOWARD: Speaker, the leader of the Opposition talks about an exit strategy. Can I say this on behalf of the Government. We don't have a cut-and-run strategy, Mr Speaker. [Latham interjection] ... It's not the Australian way to cut and run. It's the Australian way to stay and do the job and see it through and that's what we intend to do.
I will not cut and run, says angry Blair
A defiant Tony Blair faced down his critics last night and delivered an unequivocal message that he has no intention of standing down or "cutting and running in Iraq".