View source for moonbat

==English==
{{wikipedia}}

===Etymology===
From {{compound|en|moon|bat}}, first used in the 1940s by the science-fiction writer Robert Heinlein,<ref>{{cite-journal|title=Space Jockey|author=Robert A. Heinlein|authorlink=Robert A. Heinlein|date=1947-04-26|work=The Saturday Evening Post}}</ref> then used in the term “barking moonbat” coined in 1999 by Perry de Havilland of “[[w:Samizdata|The Libertarian Samizdata]]”, a right-libertarian weblog. This originally referred to both left-wing and right-wing crazy people.<ref>[http://www.word-detective.com/2011/03/wingnut/ Wingnut] in the Word Detective</ref> Sometimes wrongly claimed to be a {{glossary|corruption}} of ''Monbiot'' (from George Monbiot, British environmentalist and ''Guardian'' columnist).<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20070212031059/http://www.samizdata.net/blog/glossary_archives/001981.html "barking moonbat"] in the Samizdata glossary</ref>

===Pronunciation===
* {{IPA|en|/ˈmuːnˌbæt/}}

===Noun===
{{en-noun}}

# {{lb|en|informal|pejorative|political}} A [[liberal]] {{gloss|someone with a [[left-wing]] [[ideology]]}}.
#: {{syn|en|leftard|q1=derogatory|libtard|q2=derogatory}}
#: {{coordinate terms|en|wing nut}}
#* {{quote-book
|en
|year=2005
|title=Unhinged: Exposing Liberals Gone Wild
|author=w:Michele Malkin
|location=Washington, DC
|publisher=Regnery
|isbn=9781596981874
|page=108
|pageurl=http://books.google.com/books?id=yBVQBhSn0AEC&pg=PA108&dq=moonbat
|passage=So, what do '''moonbat''' professors do when they're not attacking military recruiters, the Bush administration, cameramen, and College Republicans?
}}
#* {{quote-book
|en
|date=2006-05-11
|title=Lapdogs: How the Press Lay Down for the Bush White House
|author=w:Eric Boehlert
|location=New York
|publisher=Free Press
|isbn=9780743299169
|page=216
|pageurl=http://books.google.com/books?id=H9DvHdbvW7UC&pg=PA216&dq=moonbat
|passage=As nervous Bush supporters watched the president's approval rating slide, they unleashed their wrath on Sheehan, labeling the mourning mom a “crazy,” “anti-Semite,” “left-wing '''moonbat''',” “crackpot” whose behavior bordered on “treasonous” and who was nothing more than a “hysterical noncombatant.”
}}
#* {{quote-book
|en
|date=2009-10-13
|title=Downforce
|author=Steve Eubanks
|location=New York
|publisher=Harper
|isbn=9780061743467
|page=255
|pageurl=http://books.google.com/books?id=opDNceTHfYsC&pg=PA255&dq=moonbats
|passage=Your job is to separate the media from the '''moonbats''' before some industrious cub reporter starts looking into our land deal.
}}
#* {{seemoreCites|en}}

===Adjective===
{{en-adj}}

# {{lb|en|informal|pejorative|political}} Of ideas absurd or obviously untruthful.
#* '''20204:''' ''[https://www.thebulwark.com/p/the-trump-musk-snoozefest The Bulwark]''
#** Trump, who said last month at the Republican National Convention that he would never again retell the story of the attempt on his life “because it’s too painful to tell,” told that story with relish. He expounded at length on his usual '''moonbat''' fables about how countries around the world are emptying their prisons and mental institutions to send their convicts and lunatics to the United States.

====Derived terms====
* {{l|en|moonbattery}}
* {{l|en|moonbatty}}

===References===
<references/>

===Further reading===
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070212031059/http://www.samizdata.net/blog/glossary_archives/001981.html The Samizdata glossary]

{{C|en|Leftism|Politics}}