this site pretty well describes what "moonbat" means, as well as "barking moonbat" http://www.barking-moonbat.com/archives/000275.html

and btw, first time ever first post, and on dean's world no less. i believe "woot" is the term? :)

My favorite slur on the right is "wingnut," as I mentioned earlier. "Right wing nut" and "gun nut" and "right wing extremist" and "hard right" all qualify--especially because when words like "hard right" are used to describe fairly wishy-washy, centrists like George W. Bush (who is, on a policy level, nearly indistinguishable from Bill Clinton).

Of course "nazi" and "fascist" get tossed at the right constantly. Oh yes, there's also "rigid ideologue."

On the left, we of course have "librul" and "bleeding heart" and "nanny stater" and "pinko" and "watermelon."

(I have to admit that I like "watermelon" as well as "wingnut" and "moonbat.")

Sadly, the word "liberal" is now used as an epithet, and it's people on BOTH the right AND the left who are to blame for that one. And "liberal" tends to be the one used most often.

There's one other word for the right that bugs me: "rightwing." You know, "rightwing," just one word and not two. Like this is supposed to be clever or something?

Hey, you're in Detroit. You ought to know that Wingnuts are a good thing. ;) (Hockey... think hockey....)

Oh by the way, there's also the Tinfoil Hat Squad, which happily seems to apply to all political stripes.

But now here's a question: why don't we have one for libertarian wingnut/moonbats? We have one for the greens--"watermelons" (green on the outside, red on the inside, i.e. closet commies). What do we have for the hard-core libertarians and Randites? I tease the Rand fans by calling them "Randbots" but I'm the only one I know who does that.

What should we call the libertarian extremist/airheads? The "everything would be better if we only got rid of all government" types? (I've known a few, by the way.) Alpha Centaurians? Venusian Llamas? Propellerheads? Man we ought to have one for them, just for fun.

By the way, that's the thing: to me these labels are okay if they're made out of a feeling of fun or playful mocking. I mean hey, let's face it, you call someone a fascist or a commie, you probably aren't kidding around, you're going for blood. But really, "wingnut" or "moonbat?" How can you really hate a moonbat? Moonbats are cute! Wingnuts are fun to play with!

So what about the libertarian fringers? Libertoids?

Moonbats aren't always cute, they can be downright scary (as an upcoming INDC post will reveal), but it does take the "edge" of the derision ...

Hardcore libertarians? ... "druggies?"

"Shroomers?" (from the "the government can't decide what I put into my body!" argument, which was my first self-awareness of the my libertarian side ...)

Well, Adam just needs to get over it...moonbats it is and moonbats it will be, at least for the time being...just let Adam know that I'll make a deal with him and his fellow leftist webloggers...when they stand down from using such niceties as "nazis" and "motherf-----rs" when referring to people who disagree with them, then it will be time to reconsider the word moonbat...until then, Adam needs to grow up and deal with it.

Of course we've got "dittoheads" who would be forced to cut their own tongues out if every caught saying something like: "Clinton's policy on (insert policy) was the right thing to do."

In my office, I'm called either "little commie timmy" even though I am far from a communist, "tree humper" or "token" as in the token liberal in the office.

Chris:

I've never used the term "Nazi" or anything like that to describe the right wing, here or anywhere else. Never. Same for the "Bush = Hitler" canard that people like you, Dean and Kim "John Fuckface Kerry" du Toit hold onto like Linus with his blanket. Have you ever read my site? I'm not the one calling names.

But hey, if it makes you feel better, Chris, poke away. I *did* grow up - the playground is just a distant memory for me. Too bad we can't say the same for you, huh?

You guys can call all the names you want. But it does make the "let's be civil" thing ring sort of hollow. I'd settle for Dean calling out wild conservative statements and attacks (butchering and feeding Michael Moore to the poor comes to mind) the same way he decries all this elusive "bad behavior" on the left. But he's proven, with the example of Mrs. du Toit, that he won't do that. So be it. It's good to know the playing field, anyway.

DEMONcrat is another, and quite right about tle libertarians. Whittle had a fun essay in his archive, but reading some of the commenters got painful.

How about "tinybopper" derived from teenybopper, which is derived from "Libertarianism is the philosophy of the adolescent mind."?

I've always used the word "weenie" to identify the
neoliberal demographic. Unfortunately I don't
think this word is descriptive or insulting enough
for what we've seen so far from the 21st Century.

The favorite Slurs for the right that I constantly see in use (besides those above), are Neocons and Lying Right/Lyin' Ultra Right. My favorite for the Left, which THEY created out of a Bush 2000 TV ad, is DemocRAT-I always use it (and I was 1, until Peanut Farmer got elected) ,and I always call The previous Administration "Bubba and Hillaryous"...Heh, Heh...

"Airhead" comes to mind as the opposite of "Dittohead"

Not to rain on everyone's parade, but how does name-calling of any sort contribute to meaningful discussion. It seems to me that I would be much more likely to consider your point of view if you aren't calling me names because I don't agree with it.

That being said, I recall when Jerry Brown was California's governor, he was called "Governor Moonbeam." I think of that whenever I see "moonbat." Of course, he is now "Mayor Moonbeam" which seems a bit more alliterative.

And of course, we now have The Guvernator.

Name-calling rocks.

My contributions:

1. Leftwingers -- "Leftovers."
2. Rightwinger -- "Squareheads."*

*I stole this from Iggy Pop.

PS: I can't be sure, but I think the term "moonbat" came from playing with the last name of George Monbiot, a hysterical leftoid Guardian commentator and author. I've also called -- heh heh, I mean, seen him called -- variously: "Moanboat," "Moonbot," "Madbot," and so on.

Another derivation of "moonbat" could be from merging the two terms "moonbeam" and "dingbat." Personally, I heart "mmonbat," but YMMV.

I'm not sure what to call Leftover sourpusses like Adam, though, who want to spoil a good hash-slinging party with his "we should only say nice things or not say anything at all" shtick. Hm, a dilemma. I guess "wet towel" will have to suffice until I or someone else thinks of something.

Oops -- meant to say, I heart "moonbat."

Being a moderate libertarian, I just call the extreme libertarians Looney Libertarians. Speaking of Looney Libertarians, The Onion joked about one in it's "news in brief" section this week. I'll post the article for ya -

Libertarian Reluctantly Calls Fire Department

CHEYENNE, WY—After attempting to contain a living-room blaze started by a cigarette, card-carrying Libertarian Trent Jacobs reluctantly called the Cheyenne Fire Department Monday. "Although the community would do better to rely on an efficient, free-market fire-fighting service, the fact is that expensive, unnecessary public fire departments do exist," Jacobs said. "Also, my house was burning down." Jacobs did not offer to pay firefighters for their service.

I've seen "Randroids" used as a pejorative for followers of Ayn Rand.

The "everything would be better if we only got rid of all government" types?

"Freeks"

I see more personal attacks upon my person from Adam, including some highly dishonest ones. It's a bad habit he has. I have to take the wife out to her birthday dinner now, and while gone I'll figure out whether answering him--beyond calling him a slander artist, that is--is worth it or not.

I love how he picks on Connie du Toit again even though she quit commenting her because of attack artists like himself, which I gave far too much latitude. Hmmm.....

The "everything would be better if we get rid of all government" types are anarchists, not libertarians. Libertarians realize that government is necessary, they just want it to be kept small. Besides, anyone who knows anything knows that anarchy leads to government, and usually the tyrannical kind at that. So, I'll have to agree with you Claire, anarchists can be fairly called "freaks".

Heather, I see "Gropenfuehrer" much more often than "Governator." Though it seems to be waning.

Dean:

Setting the record straight (again): MDT banned me from her site for arguing my case, after she and other commenters called *me* names when they ran out of debate ammo. For someone who spews out some of the most hateful rhetoric I've heard on the web, she has pretty thin skin. Heat, kitchen, etc.

I e-mailed you to ask if my behavior on your site was in any way objectionable, and you said no. Again, I'm not the one doing the name-calling. But you also refused to repudiate her "dissent is treason" line, and I think that's bad for your "non-partisan" credibility.

I'd love to hear the personal attacks I've launched against you or anyone else on this site. You gave *me* too much latitude? How about on the right side of the aisle? It's easy to trot out the "barking moonbat" thing when you don't have a leg to stand on.

"The Governator" really should be "The Gubernator." You know, from "gubernatorial." But hey, crazy Californians.

I'm glad I've never seen "Gropenfuehrer." I find that a little too demeaning for my taste.

Jerry, be careful, there! Not all us Cal-ee-forn-ee-ans are crazies! :D

Geez... I saw Gubernator and in my mind spelled it "Goobernator." Gross!

Some high school classmates (this being 30+ years later, I hasten to add) are enamoured of

Bu$hCo and Condom (for Condi Rice). But then, they do go on about the Halliburtinization of US foreign policy and the Walmartization of American society.

Dad used to rant about "tree-huggers." That should go somewhere in the list.

I think that there should be a word for those wishy-washy types who don't really stand for anything at all. you know something like spineless sally-boy.

How about "tenured activist" for the rent-a-mob crowd?

The rent-a-mob crowd are known to some of us as TWERPS: Those Who Enjoy Routinely Protesting Something.

I didn't need to repudiate the treason line because Mrs. du Toit and her husband gave perfectly reasonable defenses of themselves.

You have, once again, spewed a buch of half-truths about me and now about others, and expect me to be nice to you in response. Whoops.

Please go away, Adam. You're no longer welcome here. Just go spew at us nasty folks on your own blog and how unreasonable and bad and whatever I am over there. Thanks.

I'd guess that the Tenured Activist who be the ones who organize the rank and file TWERPS spurring them to action.

I'm waiting for my country's left-wing political pundits to refer to the right as Orcs, and the right to refer to the left as Hobbits.

Weird thing is that (to my mind at least) our right seem the equivalent of your left, so since our left is in government, probably we're a country of seriously leftover tree-hugging pinko moonbats, which kinda fits, since our Prime Minister has been described as the domineering nanny type.

Dean:
"So what about the libertarian fringers? Libertoids?"

If a real but archaic word is OK for disparagement, we already have one: "libertine" n (1563) 1: a freethinker esp. in religious matters - usu. used disparagingly 2: a person who is unrestrained by convention [other than Rand] or morality; specif: one leading a dissolute life.

Although I prefer "libertoon"

I call ultra-libertarians "blue-skinned freakazoids".

For (utterly stupid bastard) leftists, I prefer "Comrade", though this works better spoken, to get the utterly contemptuous tone necessary to get it through to them that you mean it as an insult.

For (utterly stupid bastard) rightists, I don't really prefer any particular specific term of insult, preferring general ones with "complete imbecile".

extreme Libertarians = Ayndroids. I thought that was obvious!:P