is a political epithet coined in 2002 by Perry de Havilland of "The Libertarian Samizdata," a libertarian weblog. It was originally a play on the last name of George Monbiot, a columnist for The Guardian, but now the term enjoys great currency in the libertarian blogosphere as an all-purpose insult for modern liberals, peace protestors, and other ideological opponents. It is similar to the epithets Feminazi or Idiotarian.
According to de Haviland, a moonbat is "someone on the extreme edge of whatever their -ism happens to be." Adriana Cronin defines the term as "someone who sacrifices sanity for the sake of consistency." This term has long been used to describe protesters on the political Left, and is sometimes used to describe protesters on the political Right, such as those protesting the Terri Schiavo case.
