Origin of the "our son-of-a-bitch" quote?

Factual Questions
1

“X may be a son-of-a-bitch, but he’s our son-of-a-bitch!”

I’ve heard that quote attributed to several different American presidents and other officials in reference to several different foreign dictators (by way of justifying U.S. support for the dictator’s brutal regime, the assumption being that strategic considerations trump moral ones). What is the quote’s true origin?

2

Apparently it was Franklin Roosevelt talking about Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza in 1939.

3

If you’re talking about the specific language, then perhaps yes, Roosevelt.

For a longer history of what was probably a very old saw going back 150 years, see

http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0708A&L=ADS-L&D=0&P=15234

This was a post by our own Tammi Terrell.