View source for Mush from the Wimp

{{Short description|Joke headline for a 1980 Boston Globe op-ed}}
"'''Mush from the Wimp'''" was a joke [[headline]] at the top of an [[editorial]] in ''[[The Boston Globe]]'' that accidentally passed through to publication in 1980.

==Headline==
On March 15, 1980, ''The Boston Globe'' ran an editorial that began:

{{quote|Certainly it is in the self-interest of all Americans to impose upon themselves the kind of economic self-discipline that [[Jimmy Carter|President Carter]] urged repeatedly yesterday in his sober speech to the nation. As the President said, [[inflation]], now running at record rates, is a cruel tax, one that falls most harshly upon those least able to bear the burden.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/61103164/mush-from-the-wimp/ |title=All must share the burden |newspaper=[[The Boston Globe]] |page=14 |date=March 15, 1980 |accessdate=March 6, 2021 |via=newspapers.com}}</ref>}}

The editorial was not particularly critical of Carter, but was given the headline "Mush from the Wimp".<ref name=levenson/> The headline was corrected to read "All must share the burden" during the print run, but only after 161,000 copies had already gone to circulation.<ref name="nyt-scharfenberg">{{cite news | url = https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE3DD173DF93AA15754C0A964958260 | title =  Kirk Scharfenberg, 48; Editor on Boston Globe | date = 1992-08-29 | work = [[The New York Times]]}}</ref>

==Aftermath==
The phrase had been created by ''Globe'' editorial writer<!--Note: Scharfenberg was not the Globe's editorial page editor when the incident occurred--> Kirk Scharfenberg; in 1982, he wrote an [[op-ed]] piece discussing it.<ref name="globe-now"/> Scharfenberg had felt that Carter's speech was "wishy-washy" and it left him "not much impressed."<ref name=levenson>{{cite news |url=https://www.boston.com/news/politics/2015/08/25/how-an-accidental-boston-globe-headline-defined-jimmy-carters-legacy |title=How an accidental Boston Globe headline defined Jimmy Carter's legacy |first=Eric |last=Levenson |website=[[Boston.com]] |date=August 25, 2015 |accessdate=March 6, 2021}}</ref> "I meant it as an in-house joke and thought it would be removed before publication," he explained.  "It appeared in 161,000 copies of the ''Globe'' the next day."<ref name="nyt-scharfenberg"/>  Scharfenberg also noted the use of "wimp" as a popular political insult afterwards.<ref name="globe-now">{{cite news | url = https://www.newspapers.com/clip/72824507/now-it-can-be-told-the-story-behind/ | title = Now it can be told ... the story behind Campaign '82's favorite insult | first = Kirk | last = Scharfenberg | page = 11 | date = November 6, 1982 | work = [[The Boston Globe]] | accessdate = March 6, 2021 | via = newspapers.com}}</ref> He remained with the ''Globe'' until his death in 1992 from cancer at age 48.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/72826637/kirk-scharfenberg-the-globes/ |title=Kirk Scharfenberg, the Globe's compassionate voice, is dead at 48 |first=Brian C. |last=Mooney |newspaper=[[The Boston Globe]] |page=21 |date=July 28, 1992 |accessdate=March 6, 2021 |via=newspapers.com}}</ref>

A month after the headline was published, Theo Lippman Jr. of ''[[The Baltimore Sun]]'' declared "Mush from the Wimp" as being "on its way to becoming one of the most famous headlines of our time."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/72829064/mush-from-the-wimp/ |title=Mush from the Wimp |first=Theo |last=Lippman Jr. |newspaper=[[The Baltimore Sun]] |page=12 |date=April 21, 1980 |accessdate=March 6, 2021 |via=newspapers.com}}</ref> He placed it behind "[[Wall Street Lays an Egg|Wall St. Lays an Egg]]" (''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'', 1929) and ahead of "[[New York Daily News#Noteworthy front pages|Ford to City: Drop Dead]]" ([[New York Daily News|New York ''Daily News'']], 1975).<ref name="globe-now"/>

The phrase became well known enough that in 1995, a ''Globe'' editorial chastising the [[Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race|Iditarod Race]] for caving in to pressure from [[animal rights]] activists was titled "More wimps from the mush."<ref>{{cite news | url = https://www.newspapers.com/clip/72820520/more-wimps-from-the-mush/ | title = More wimps from the mush | page = 22 | date = March 10, 1995 | work = [[The Boston Globe]] | accessdate = March 6, 2021 |via=newspapers.com }}</ref>

The ''[[New York Post]]'' used "Mush from the wimp", with credit to Scharfenberg, as the title of an opinion column published on June 20, 2013, criticizing President [[Barack Obama]] following a speech in [[Berlin]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://nypost.com/2013/06/20/mush-from-the-wimp/ |title=Mush from the wimp |website=[[New York Post]] |date=June 20, 2013 |accessdate=March 6, 2021}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

== External links ==
* {{Wiktionary inline|mush}}
* {{Wiktionary inline|wimp}}

{{Jimmy Carter}}

[[Category:1980 in Boston]]
[[Category:1980 quotations]]
[[Category:The Boston Globe]]
[[Category:Cultural history of Boston]]
[[Category:English phrases]]
[[Category:Error]]
[[Category:Headlines]]
[[Category:History of newspapers in the United States]]
[[Category:March 1980 in the United States]]
[[Category:Mass media in Boston]]
[[Category:Presidency of Jimmy Carter]]