moonbats and wingnuts

respectively left-wing and right-wing ranters. If one must name-call and label everything, these picturesque terms are at least nicely balanced. Coined and defined by London blogger Adriana Cronin-Lukas of Samizdata.net, "barking moonbat," or simply "moonbat," is "most often applied derisively to extreme partisans on the left, but we use it as originally intended, to apply to all far-out cases whose beliefs make them oblivious to facts, regardless of party or ideology" (Brooks Jackson and Kathleen Hall Jamieson, UnSpun: Finding Facts in a World of Disinformation). According to the Urban Dictionary, "it was always intended as a much more ecumenical epithet and has been correctly used to describe certain paleo-conservative and paleo-libertarian views (also see idiotarian)." Although "wingnut" is generally leveled at the right, indicating extreme and irrational political views, often with religious overtones, it is also sometimes used for anyone whose views seem outlandish.