Friday, January 13, 2006

Origins of the term

Interviewer: "Is the liberal stance of the early strips indicative of your own personal politics?"

Berke Breathed replies: "Liberal, shmiberal. That should be a new word. Shmiberal: one who is assumed liberal, just because he's a professional whiner in the newspaper. If you'll read the subtext for many of those old strips, you'll find the heart of an old-fashioned Libertarian. And I'd be a Libertarian, if they weren't all a bunch of tax-dodging professional whiners."

Onion A.V. Club interview