Uh, oh ... Moonbats!

Moonbat was first used by author Robert Heinlein in his 1947 story “Space Jockey” as the name of a space vessel flying to the moon.

In the mid-1990s, the Japanese clothing label MoonBat took the moniker, getting press when they sponsored a 64-day California-to-New Jersey ultra-marathon called the MoonBat Transcontinental Footrace.

The rise of moonbat as a political slur can be attributed to conservative political commentator Howie Carr, who first used it in a Rocky Mountain News article in 1996. It’s possible he might’ve been inspired by California governor Jerry Brown, sometimes ribbed as Governor Moonbeam.