I even caught a DU thread once where they were trying to come up with a word for us that carried the same pejorative impact, but they just couldn’t do it.
LOL. And here I thought that liberalism was the home of creativity, artistry, and the clever turn of phrase. Guess not, huh?
I think you're right about the term, 'Moonbat'. It's without equal in the lexicon of political warfare. The reason it stuck in the first place, is that a certain degree of observed truth underlies the term. Libs have more wackos per capita, by FAR, than the right does, and they know it.
On the other hand, most of the pejoratives that liberals hurl against the right are about half right, so their impact is weak.
In fact, some of their creations are so ill-conceived, that conservatives have proudly adopted them as their own. The terms, 'Right-Wing Extremist' and 'Bitter Clinger' come to mind. And let's not forget the perennial favorites, 'Knuckle-Dragging Neanderthal' and 'Flag Waving Patriot'.
Liberals invented all of those terms to hurt us, but their intentions back-fired.
Good thoughts, but except:
“On the other hand, most of the pejoratives that liberals hurl against the right are about half right, so their impact is weak”
I would only give them 3 to 5% credit vs. ‘about half right’...;)
You’re exactly right about the sting of the Moonbat moniker lying in the degree of its accuracy. In its original form, it was ‘barking moonbats’ - which is an even more apt and fun phrase to use.
I love your list of supposed pejoratives that conservatives have proudly appropriated. Don’t forget ‘pajamas media’. After the Dan Rather/fake but accurate expose, the lefties said bloggers were nothing more than people sitting around in their pajamas typing away on their keyboards. Conservatives were more than happy to adopt that characterization. ;)
“Moonbat” doesn’t seem to hurt much in Collie-fornia.
Jerry Brown got elected governor again.
There are a lot of highly creative types among ordinary center-left liberals, and even among those who buy into more extreme leftism in dupeish fashion.
But the true hard leftists are soul-sucking demons who wring the richness out any art form they adopt, leaving it a dry, lifeless husk. Witness what they did to folk music in the 60's.