- Wingnut (politics)
Wingnut is a term currently used in U.S. politics as a political epithet referring to people who hold extreme conservative views or support far right-wing politics, especially those who espouse right-wing conspiracy theories. It is generally believed to be an attenuation of the term "right-wing nut" or "right-wing nut-job".
According to "
New York Times " languagemaven William Safire , "The prevailing put-down of right-wing bloggers is "wingnuts"; this has recently been countered by the vilification of left-wing partisans who use the Web as "moonbats"..."cite news| last =Safire| first =William| title =On Language: Moonbats, wingnuts| publisher =New York Times/Intl. Herald-Tribune| date =2006-09-03| url =http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/09/03/news/edsafire.php| accessdate = 2007-03-18 ]From the time of its first popular usage until the early 2000s, the term wingnut was used by both right-wing and left-wing people to refer to each other.fact|date=October 2008
Some right-wing conservatives have adopted the term as a badge of honor, with a group in
South Dakota calling itself the "SD Wingnuts". [ [http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2008/10/01/news/local/doc48e35262e56ae789402347.txt "Bloggers tackle abortion, openness in government and those pesky moderate Republicans",] "Rapid City Journal ," October 1, 2008]ee also
*
Right-wing populism
*Moonbat References
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
