# Why are liberals referred to as "bedwetters"? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 21, 2007, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-liberals-referred-to-as-bedwetters/412640 "2007-07-21T06:24:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2007, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-liberals-referred-to-as-bedwetters/412640/21 "2007-07-21T16:24:35Z")
[QUOTE=Giraffe] is there anything stupider than counting hits in a Google keyword search? [/QUOTE] A search for “Stupider than counting hits in a Google keyword search” returns: > [@](#): > > Your search - “stupider than counting hits in a Google keyword search” - did not match any documents. So no, according to Google, there isn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Malodorous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47774/32.png) [@Malodorous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malodorous)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2007, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-liberals-referred-to-as-bedwetters/412640/22 "2007-07-21T16:27:25Z")
[QUOTE=Giraffe] I know **GIGObuster** already pointed this out, but is there anything stupider than counting hits in a Google keyword search? What exactly could it possibly prove? Search **liberal pedophile** and you get 538,000 hits – clearly, liberals are five times more likely to molest children than wet the bed. Of course, search **liberals go to heaven** and you get 1.5 million hits, so I guess even the urine-soaked kiddie diddlers are doing God’s work according to what words show up most frequently in blogs and porno sites. [/QUOTE] Hmm…he wasn’t trying to prove that liberals _were_ bed wetters, but that the phrase is in common use. In which case, the number of times Google finds the phrase seems a good way to establish how much the phrase is used (though as pointed out, the poster screwed it up by not putting the phrase is quotes). ---
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2007, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-liberals-referred-to-as-bedwetters/412640/23 "2007-07-21T16:28:33Z")
[QUOTE=Fear Itself] And a certain segment of conservatives believes reading Harry Potter exposes children to Satanic forces. I will stipulate that there are wingnuts at both ends of the political spectrum. Beyond that, I’m not sure what the point of your observation is. [/QUOTE] The point of **smiling bandit’s** observation is an attempt to explain why liberals are sometimes referred to as “bedwetters,” which was the subject of the OP. ---
**Author:** ![guppy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7feea3/32.png) [@guppy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guppy)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2007, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-liberals-referred-to-as-bedwetters/412640/24 "2007-07-21T16:29:18Z")
[QUOTE=Giraffe] I know **GIGObuster** already pointed this out, but is there anything stupider than counting hits in a Google keyword search? What exactly could it possibly prove? Search **liberal pedophile** and you get 538,000 hits – clearly, liberals are five times more likely to molest children than wet the bed. Of course, search **liberals go to heaven** and you get 1.5 million hits, so I guess even the urine-soaked kiddie diddlers are doing God’s work according to what words show up most frequently in blogs and porno sites. People do this all the time and it drives me crazy. [/QUOTE] Googling [“bob co idiot”](http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=bob+co+idiot&btnG=Google+Search) yields 2,250,000 hits. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Giraffe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giraffe/32/129_2.png) [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2007, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-liberals-referred-to-as-bedwetters/412640/25 "2007-07-21T16:34:32Z")
[QUOTE=Malodorous] Hmm…he wasn’t trying to prove that liberals _were_ bed wetters, but that the phrase is in common use. In which case, the number of times Google finds the phrase seems a good way to establish how much the phrase is used (though as pointed out, the poster screwed it up by not putting the phrase is quotes). [/QUOTE] I’ll concede that it was a less egregiously stupid use of Google to prove a point than is often the case, but still pretty dumb. Even if he had used quotes and gotten (e.g.) 5,000 hits, what does that prove? Information is copied and quoted so often on blogs that the number of hits can be vastly different than the number of original usages. Sifting through the results and finding a dozen reasonably visible opinion pieces or television transcripts where the phrase was used would have demonstrated some measure of common usage. Simply giving the number of hits itself is pretty meaningless. ---
**Author:** ![AtomicDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@AtomicDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AtomicDog)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2007, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-liberals-referred-to-as-bedwetters/412640/26 "2007-07-21T16:55:27Z")
No cites, (I listened to him enough over the years, and am still undergoing mental detoxification) but I believe that conservative radio host Neal Boortz coined the phrase when he was mocking a female caller on his talk show who related her childhood experiences during the Cuban Missile Crisis. With all of the doomsday headlines at the time, she honestly thought that the world was coming to an end, and Neal thought that this was really funny. He referred to her as something like a “Liberal bedwetter cowering under the sheets.” I hadn’t heard the phrase before then. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2007, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-liberals-referred-to-as-bedwetters/412640/27 "2007-07-21T17:06:52Z")
[QUOTE=tomndebb] As demonstrated by this carefully thought out, well-reasoned, and insightful remark? [/QUOTE] Well, it **is,** compared with anything **bob\_co** has ever posted. It’s like comparing Democratic Underground with Free Republic. The DUers sometimes appear to be morons, but the FReepers **always** appear to be idiots. Idiots who are not even studying to be morons. ---
**Author:** ![E.Thorp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@E.Thorp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E.Thorp)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2007, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-liberals-referred-to-as-bedwetters/412640/28 "2007-07-21T17:16:38Z")
[QUOTE=GIGObuster] A Google vomit does not make a point. [/quote] Oh, I know. I was replying to the second poster (who wondered about examples), not the OP. But I see I came off as snarkier than I meant to be. Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2007, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-liberals-referred-to-as-bedwetters/412640/29 "2007-07-21T17:38:28Z")
[QUOTE=Der Trihs] Because conservatives tend to have childish and none-too-bright minds, and most aren’t capable of adult criticism and reasoning ? [/QUOTE] was followed by [QUOTE=Epimetheus] :rolleyes: [/QUOTE] and [QUOTE=tomndebb] As demonstrated by this carefully thought out, well-reasoned, and insightful remark? [/QUOTE] and [QUOTE=smiling bandit] The irony is so sharp it hurts. 😃 I think it’s supposed to imply immaturity and specifically _fear_. [/QUOTE] I know some folks have a hard-on for **Der Trihs** , but i don’t see what was wrong with his comment. It was offered in the exact same spirit as the OP, and was a perfectly appropriate rhetorical response. When people ask dumb-fuck questions, they are most likely to get snarky, simplistic answers. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2007, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-liberals-referred-to-as-bedwetters/412640/30 "2007-07-21T18:07:08Z")
[QUOTE=AtomicDog] No cites, (I listened to him enough over the years, and am still undergoing mental detoxification) but I believe that conservative radio host Neal Boortz coined the phrase when he was mocking a female caller on his talk show who related her childhood experiences during the Cuban Missile Crisis. With all of the doomsday headlines at the time, she honestly thought that the world was coming to an end, and Neal thought that this was really funny. He referred to her as something like a “Liberal bedwetter cowering under the sheets.” I hadn’t heard the phrase before then. [/QUOTE] Any idea on a year? The first time I recall hearing the phrase was when Judd Winick referred to himself as a “bedweting liberal” in an episode of the San Francisco season of “The Real World” and that would have been in 1994. ---
**Author:** ![Jolly\_Roger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/91b2a8/32.png) [@Jolly\_Roger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jolly_Roger)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2007, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-liberals-referred-to-as-bedwetters/412640/31 "2007-07-21T18:20:18Z")
[QUOTE=bob\_co] Does this mean timid? Similar to peacenik? I like this one. > **[Moonbat](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moonbat)** > > "Moonbat" is a pejorative political epithet used in United States politics, referring to liberals, progressives, or leftists (especially the far-left).\[citation needed\] Descriptions of bat-like people on the Moon were part of the 1835 Great Moon hoax. A long poem, The Proving of Gennad: A Mythological Romance by Landred Lewis (1890), uses the term "moonbat" to refer to unsound ideas, but not specifically political ones. "Moonbat" was the name for the XP-67 experimental aircraft, developed by McDo... [/QUOTE] Without doubt this is one of the dumbest things I’ve ever seen. Witjout any prior knowledge of the OP its easy to tell he’s either a troll or a moron. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Who](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Doctor\_Who](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Who)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2007, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-liberals-referred-to-as-bedwetters/412640/32 "2007-07-21T18:29:45Z")
[QUOTE=Jolly Roger] Without doubt this is one of the dumbest things I’ve ever seen. Witjout any prior knowledge of the OP its easy to tell he’s either a troll **or** a moron. [/QUOTE] Bolding mine. Don’t you mean AND? ---
**Author:** ![AtomicDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@AtomicDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AtomicDog)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2007, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-liberals-referred-to-as-bedwetters/412640/33 "2007-07-21T18:34:32Z")
[QUOTE=Otto] Any idea on a year? The first time I recall hearing the phrase was when Judd Winick referred to himself as a “bedweting liberal” in an episode of the San Francisco season of “The Real World” and that would have been in 1994. [/QUOTE] Early 90’s is the best I can do. I can’t swear that Boortz invented the phrase, but I remember the radio incident vividly and I know that he didn’t use the term before then. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2007, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-liberals-referred-to-as-bedwetters/412640/34 "2007-07-21T18:39:45Z")
[QUOTE=mhendo] I know some folks have a hard-on for **Der Trihs** , but i don’t see what was wrong with his comment. It was offered in the exact same spirit as the OP, and was a perfectly appropriate rhetorical response. When people ask dumb-fuck questions, they are most likely to get snarky, simplistic answers. [/QUOTE] Precisely. It was mockery. And the OP is so very mockable. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2007, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-liberals-referred-to-as-bedwetters/412640/35 "2007-07-21T18:46:43Z")
[QUOTE=mhendo] was followed byandandI know some folks have a hard-on for **Der Trihs** , but i don’t see what was wrong with his comment. It was offered in the exact same spirit as the OP, and was a perfectly appropriate rhetorical response. When people ask dumb-fuck questions, they are most likely to get snarky, simplistic answers. [/QUOTE] Most people found a way to respond without insulting fellow board members. But even if you’re right in general, Der Trihs’s response was apparently heartfelt rather than mockery as he now claims, since he bothered to search for “evidence” and provide links. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2007, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-liberals-referred-to-as-bedwetters/412640/36 "2007-07-21T19:13:38Z")
[QUOTE=Liberal] Most people found a way to respond without insulting fellow board members. But even if you’re right in general, Der Trihs’s response was apparently heartfelt rather than mockery as he now claims, since he bothered to search for “evidence” and provide links. [/QUOTE] Huh ? What links ? Methinks you have confused me with **Larry Borgia**. And what’s wrong with insulting this idiot ? Or conservatism ? ---
**Author:** ![bob\_co](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b3f665/32.png) [@bob\_co](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_co)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2007, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-liberals-referred-to-as-bedwetters/412640/37 "2007-07-21T20:28:01Z")
#26 is kinda where I was going with this. Hence the peacnik reference. I found it hard to believe that an obscure radio show host (back in the 90’s) could have coined a phrase that seems pretty wide spread. BTW A google search for: +“liberal bedwetter” searches for the oxymoron. A google search for: liberal bedwetter searches for all occurances of either words. A google search for +“liberal” +“bedwetter” searches for pages that have both words at least once. 928 hits. Google can not find references to bedwetter that are being used in the manner that I was referring to. Bedwetter has come to mean: Hive mind Uniouns Democrats Communists Socialists (including the national socialist party of WWII Germany) Liberals Progressive Left Wing Moonbats Subjective Did I miss any? What are the other end of the spectrum? Wingnuts NeoCons Conservative Right Wing Competition Objective Capitalist Idividualist ---
**Author:** ![bob\_co](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b3f665/32.png) [@bob\_co](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_co)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2007, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-liberals-referred-to-as-bedwetters/412640/38 "2007-07-21T20:31:08Z")
Sorry about the spelling. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2007, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-liberals-referred-to-as-bedwetters/412640/39 "2007-07-21T20:36:31Z")
I think he’s trying out for the position of the board’s Conservative Gadfly Who Exposes the Hypocrisies of the Left. That position open? Somebody died? ---
**Author:** ![TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/51bf81/32.png) [@TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2007, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-liberals-referred-to-as-bedwetters/412640/40 "2007-07-21T20:40:15Z")
Because they don’t want to like, beat the fuckin’ shit out of everything, bro! Fuckin’ pussies. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-liberals-referred-to-as-bedwetters/412640.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-liberals-referred-to-as-bedwetters/412640.md?page=3)