Moonbat

"Moonbat" is a pejorative political epithet used in United States politics, referring to liberals, progressives, or leftists (especially the far-left), a possible parallel to the pejorative "Wingnut" attributed to American conservatives, and right-wing politics.[1]

Etymology

Descriptions of bat-like people on the Moon were part of the 1835 Great Moon hoax.

A long poem, The Proving of Gennad: A Mythological Romance by Landred Lewis (1890), uses the term "moonbat" to refer to unsound ideas, but not specifically political ones.[2]

The term was used by science fiction author Robert A. Heinlein in the 1947 short story "Space Jockey" as the name of a rocket spacecraft used for the third step of a journey from the Earth to the Moon.[3]

Examples of usage
  • Columnist and radio talk show host Howie Carr has used the term a number of times in his column in the Boston Herald. On the radio he frequently uses the term as a pejorative those holding left wing political beliefs.[4][5][6][7][8][9] The earliest known use by Carr was in a Rocky Mountain News article on August 8, 1996.[10] At the time, the Japanese clothing brand "MoonBat" was the sponsor of an annual 64‑day California – New Jersey ultramarathon foot race, called the "MoonBat Transcontinental Footrace".[11] In 2008, Carr wrote about the number of "Moonbats" inhabiting the town of Arlington, Massachusetts. In response, a group of Arlington residents founded the Menotomy Moonbats to raise money for their local public schools: Menotomy was the historical name for Arlington during the American Revolutionary War.[12][13][14][15][16]
  • On March 14, 2000 Jonah Goldberg's National Review Online column "Our, *ahem*, FAQ Welcome New Readers" contained the following: "Alas, because Goldberg watches Baywatch everyday and can name the main characters in almost every Marvel comic book from 1976 to 1986, he occasionally makes errors. Far more often, he simply writes things that make readers say, 'Is this guy higher than a moonbat?'"[17]
  • Margery Eagan, another Herald columnist, used the term several times in 2006 and 2007 to characterize some supporters of former Massachusetts Democratic governor Deval Patrick.[18][19][20]
  • Columnist and blogger Michelle Malkin was quoted in March 2006 by Howard Kurtz as writing, "But now the determined moonbat hordes have exposed multiple instances of what clearly appear to me to be blatant lifting of entire, unique passages by [blogger] Ben Domenech from other writers,"[21] in reference to Domenech's resignation from the Washington Post after evidence of his plagiarism came to light.
  • The term is also often used in the UK to refer to George Monbiot, owing to its similarity with his surname, and referring to his left-wing views.[22]
  • "Moonbat" is the name of Conservative Jones' sidekick, a recurring character in the political cartoon This Modern World by Tom Tomorrow.[23]
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See also

Notes
  1. Safire, William (2008). Safire's Political Dictionary (Revised ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 435. ISBN 978-0195340617. Retrieved 2019-07-17.
  2. https://archive.org/details/provinggennadam00lewigoog/page/n96
  3. Safire, William (2006-09-03). "On Language: Moon Bats & Wing Nuts". The New York Times Magazine. Retrieved 2008-04-02.
  4. Carr, Howie (2007-01-31). "Kerry's continued mincing just proves he's not so Swift". Boston Herald. p. 10.
  5. Carr, Howie (2007-02-25). "Draped in controversy, is it curtains for Deval?". Boston Herald. p. 9.
  6. Carr, Howie (2007-03-08). "Hillary circling as Obama looks for parking spot". Boston Herald. p. 4.
  7. Carr, Howie (2007-03-14). "Good luck, Lefty - it's going to be a long haul". Boston Herald. p. 4.
  8. Carr, Howie (2007-03-23). "Pols paying higher taxes, show yourselves". Boston Herald. p. 16.
  9. Carr, Howie (2007-04-22). "Aging moonbats tapped to `advise' governor". Boston Herald. p. 10.
  10. Carr, Howie (1996-08-08). "Rep Collins Loses Dem Primary". Rocky Mountain News. Archived from the original on 2013-01-25. (via Highbeam Research archive)
  11. "Ultramarathon; 2,926 Miles In 517 Hours Wins Race". The New York Times. August 21, 1994.
  12. Carr, Howie (2008-07-03). "Marzilli-loving Moonbats have their blinders on". Boston Herald. Archived from the original on 2012-02-17. Retrieved 2008-08-22.
  13. Carr, Howie (2008-08-03). "Test: How to tell if you're a moonbat". Boston Herald. Retrieved 2008-08-22.
  14. Menotomy Moonbats volunteer web site Archived July 9, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  15. Chabot, Hillary (2008-08-02). "Moonbats unite! Show pride in hotbed suburb". Boston Herald. Archived from the original on 2011-06-13. Retrieved 2008-08-22.
  16. Metzger, Andy (2008-07-31). "Political tees". Arlington Advocate Newspaper. Retrieved 2008-08-22.
  17. Jonah Goldberg. Our, *ahem*, FAQ, National Review Online
  18. Eagan, Margery (2006-09-21). "Moonbats swarming in Mass". Boston Herald. Retrieved 2007-03-18.
  19. Eagan, Margery (2006-09-24). "Battle For Governor: Sunday Smackdown". Boston Herald. Retrieved 2007-03-18.
  20. Eagan, Margery (2007-03-08). "Moonbats enter their blue phase". Boston Herald. Archived from the original on 2007-03-10. Retrieved 2007-03-17.
  21. Kurtz, Howard (2006-03-25). "Post.com Blogger Quits Amid Furor". The Washington Post. pp. C01. Retrieved 2007-07-03.
  22. George Monbiot joins the bourgeoisie, The Spectator, 26 December 2012
  23. Tomorrow, Tom (30 April 2012). "Conservative Jones, Citizen Journalist". The Modern World. Daily Kos. Retrieved 19 June 2013.
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