Descriptions of bat-like people on the Moon were part of the 1835 Great Moon hoax. A long poemThe Proving of Gennad: A Mythological Romance by Landred Lewis uses the term "moonbat" to refer to unsound ideas, but not specifically political ones. The term was used by science fiction author Robert A. Heinlein in a 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.
Examples of usage
Columnist and radio talk show hostHowie 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. The earliest known use by Carr was in a Rocky Mountain News article on August 8, 1996. At the time, the Japanese clothing brand "MoonBat" was the sponsor of an annual 64‑day California – New Jerseyultramarathon foot race, called the "MoonBat Transcontinental Footrace". 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.
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?'"
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.
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 Ben Domenech from other writers," 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.
