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Conservative Activist Forwards Racist Pic Showing Obama As Witch Doctor
The election of our first black president has brought with it a strange proliferation of online racism among conservatives.
And we've got the latest example.
On Sunday night, Dr. David McKalip forwarded to fellow members of a Google listserv affiliated with the Tea Party movement the image below. Above it, he wrote: "Funny stuff."
Now, Tea Party activists trafficking in racist imagery are pretty much dog bites man. But McKalip isn't just some random winger. He's a Florida neurosurgeon, who serves as a member of the American Medical Association's House of Delegates.
He's also an energetic conservative opponent of health-care reform. McKalip founded the anti-reform group Doctors For Patient Freedom, as well as what seems to be a now defunct group called Cut Taxes Now. Last month he joined GOP congressmen Tom Price and Phil Gingrey, among others, for a virtual town hall to warn about the coming "government takeover of medicine." And in a recent anti-reform op-ed published in the St. Petersburg Times, McKalip wrote that "Congress wants to create larger, government-funded programs for health care and more bureaucracy that ration care and impose cookbook medicine."
Asked about the email in a brief phone interview with TPMmuckraker, McKalip said he believes that by depicting the president as an African witch doctor, the "artist" who created the image "was expressing concerns that the health-care proposals [made by President Obama] would make the quality of medical care worse in our country." McKalip said he didn't know who created it.
But pressed on what was funny about an image that plays on racist stereotypes about Africans, McKalip declined to say, instead offering to talk about why he opposes Obama's health-care proposals.
"I have a busy day," he said eventually, before ending the call.
Late Update: An emailer points us to a picture of a Papua New Guinea tribesman wearing identical head-dress, feathers, and clothes to the man in the image forwarded by McKalip. So that suggests that McKalip's image was based on a Papua New Guinean, rather than an African. But it seems unlikely that McKalip himself was aware of this when he forwarded the email. It was he who first used the term "witch doctor" in our phone interview, and he didn't quibble with our suggestion that the image played on stereotypes of Africans.
Late Late Update: A blogger at Daily Kos has gotten a statement from the American Medical Association, which reads:
Delegates to the American Medical Association are selected through their individual state and specialty societies, and their individual views and actions do not, in any way, represent the official view of the AMA. We condemn any actions or comments that are racist, discriminatory or unprofessional.
The same blogger also reports:
I just got a call from the Director of Corporate Communications at Bayfront Medical Center in St. Pete and she's livid about what Dr. McKalip has done--he's works in the hospital. She said that she is an African American herself and the hospital will be investigating this matter!! I called earlier and left her a message. YAY!!!
We just made our own call to the communications director at Bayfront, Kanika Tomalin, and she wasn't willing to go quite that far. She said the issue was being "handled internally" but declined to elaborate, beyond stressing that though McKalip works at Bayfront, he does not speak for the hospital.
Late 7/24/09 Update: McKalip has now apologized. But not before blaming liberal activists for touting the e-mail.
How can you can that racist! It isn't as if they are portraying him as a monkey or something! Anyway, everyone knows he was born in Kenya.
/sarcasm off.
I am now bracing myself for the myriad of posts which will say this isn't racist.
And we are playing the race card.
July 23, 2009 10:54 AM | Reply | Permalink
Damn if I didn't come here to say pretty much the exact same thing.
July 23, 2009 11:02 AM | Reply | Permalink
LOL, good point! Like this:
Aren't the African witch-doctors actually female sangomas and doesn't this picture likely deal with shamanism which exists worldwide?
:-)
July 23, 2009 11:02 AM | Reply | Permalink
Which is the worse "witch doctor?" Which is more trustworthy? A conservative neurosurgeon fighting to fleece more victims so he can make bigger bucks or a shaman in Africa?
July 23, 2009 1:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
Witch doctors might not have accomplished much other than a placebo effect, but I never heard of one demanding an insurance card before trying to help the patient. Medicine for profit seems to be a very recent invention. Like nuclear waste.
July 23, 2009 4:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
At least with a witch doctor, you bill would be affordable - a chicken, some grain and dried fruit.
July 24, 2009 11:38 AM | Reply | Permalink
Hehehe.
You might get some willow bark tea for an ailment, miraculously curing your headache.
August 16, 2009 11:51 AM | Reply | Permalink
Quite telling actually. All Republicans have left are conspiracy theories and racist lingo. It's like a cult that can't get enough of itself.
July 23, 2009 11:40 AM | Reply | Permalink
The problem is, you can't help someone until they realize they need help.
July 24, 2009 11:40 AM | Reply | Permalink
Ahem. Who is in the Republican Party and what do they stand for? Well, at the top are corporate heads and their flunkies who had made a killing buying off legislators and who live to protect the status quo. There's Palin (who brought a real witch doctor from Africa to make her governor), Limbaugh the windbag, of course. A bunch of teetering old white guys in the Senate who long for the pre civil rights days, and their younger philandering versions. And a whole bunch of paid shill Rove wannabees who repost silly talking points about socialism, the Birth Certificate, and USA! Number 1!
I think the GOP is toast.
July 24, 2009 7:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
I just can't understand why so few blacks are Republicans...
July 23, 2009 12:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
I am glad you turned the sarcasm off because I was ready to clobber you
July 23, 2009 1:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
Let us not forget that another image is in this thing: that of international communism. So the Obama health insurance reform (see what I'm doing here? I'm using the new Dem. talking points; reframing) is both primitive AND totalitarian!
July 24, 2009 11:21 AM | Reply | Permalink
This shows to me that no matter how well educated you are you can still be an asshole. Wait, a neurosurgeon? make that a greedy asshole.
July 23, 2009 11:01 AM | Reply | Permalink
a greedy, racist asshole!
July 23, 2009 12:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ok - now don't fall for your own stereotypes. Neurosurgeons train for 11 years after college for their jobs (minimum med school + 7 years of residency, some do 8), and then work 80-100 hours a week taking care of brain and spinal injuries doing complex and incredibly long (up to 17 hour) surgeries. That they want to get paid for their work (and not on Lehman brothers scale, FYI), is not surprising.
Further, about 1/2 of their patients pay nothing, as they are indigent and unisured.
So - focus on the actual story - that the image is incredibly racist and the fact that he had no idea that it was reflects poorly on his judgement about people.
July 23, 2009 1:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well if he is that stupid, I wouldn't want him operating on me
July 23, 2009 1:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
Seriously! Would you trust this guy to do surgery?
July 23, 2009 1:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
That is mostly bullshit. I had an anterior discectomy 7 years ago to replace a collapsed disc in my neck. I had a neurosurgeon operate on me. He was and still is a great surgeon but if I was a member of an HMO (I wasn't at the time - I had PPO) he would not have even taken me as a patient.
These guys get paid handsomely and most of them do not do pro bono work. They want all the bucks up front.,
July 23, 2009 1:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
And don't fall for your own stereotypes either -- that someone who has managed to claw their way through textbooks and follow-the leader learning for so many years is a good original thinker.
Many people spend their formative years never having to develop empathy, social skills or the ability for self reflection. Thus, when complex, original thinking is called upon, they are left to fall back on simplistic canards and of course, their own very narrow and contracted life view.
He may be good at rewiring brains, but I'd bet that's about as far as his talent takes him.
July 23, 2009 4:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
your reply is so awesome. i don't think i could have expressed it better, or even as good.
July 24, 2009 6:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
If only he'd rewire his own brain.
Oh, wait: he's a neurosurgeon so he can steal "excess" brain cells with which to build a brain for himself.
July 24, 2009 1:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
Where do you get this idea that 50% of a neurosurgeon's patients are pro bono? Indigent people don't get brain surgery operations, they get a few meds and kicked back out on the street.
July 23, 2009 5:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
wow! 1/2 of neurosurgeon's patients are uninsured AND indigent? i'd like to find a surgeon with such numbers, who's not a quack. that's really a ridiculous claim. 20% of the country is without health insurance. furthermore, being without health insurance does not mean one is indigent. many middle class families simply cannot afford the $1200+ average price of an HMO (not even PPO) in the "marketplace" - hence the health insurance reform drive. so how one goes from 20% to 50%, let alone the issue of equating the uninsured with being indigent, is amazing. those selfless neurosurgeons must just trawl for "indigents" (offensive terminology fyi). i'm very familiar with how doctors get paid, and how they select their patients. With the overwhelming majority of neurosurgeons (i'd guesstimate), if you don't have insurance or cash, you're not getting the surgery...unless it is a very extreme emergency.
most importantly though, the comments section is free-flowing. although the neurosurgeon's greed may not be the immediate issue, it is an implicit sub-issue of sorts in the article. Doctor McCrappy's racism AND ridiculous claims about health reform AND obstructionism certainly merit an analysis of his ulterior motives in such an open forum as is the comments section, no?
July 24, 2009 6:50 AM | Reply | Permalink
Neurosurgeons, like most surgeons, have to take ER call. Patients in the ER have to been seen, and many (in urban areas) are uninsured; up to 50% of trauma cases are uninsured and/or indigent (sorry that I did not edit my post for precision). I take ER call in Utah (a state with one of the highest insurance rates in the country), and 30% of our ER patients are not insured. This does not mean that we are taking "pro bono" work like a lawyer, but rather we are forced to see patients who simply won't pay. FYI physicians can't do pro-bono work because.... its illegal. Yep, fraud (says medicare). But this is a topic for another day.
What I am pointing out is simply the bias of the previous author against physicians. Clearly, people have had bad experiences with individual (or more than one) physician and are generalizing their experiences. If I were to say "I once had a carpenter and he took my money and ran - all carpenters are greedy crooks" it would be a bit clearer.
July 24, 2009 2:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
But if 1/2 of his patients are 'no pay' - then having 100% of them on insurance of some sort would guarantee he receives the compensation needed to pay his medical school bills.
September 13, 2009 9:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
Who says an MD is "educated?" An MD amounts to years of technical training. The ones who learn to actually think learn that process on their own. An MD is basically a lot of technical schooling in solving mechanical puzzles.
That's why a PhD is rated as a higher degree. PhD's are taught to try to think and research, not just to learn to do routine mechanical procedures more accurately.
Don't forget that Ron Paul is an MD. He was a flight surgeon before becoming an OB/Gyn mechanic. Senator Ensign is a Veterinarian.
July 23, 2009 1:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
I agree. Being smart enough to be a doctor is not the same as being educated enough to think about things OTHER than medicine.
Too many doctors stick to science from day one as an undergraduate and lack any really broad eduction in history, the social sciences, literature, etc. The so-called "liberal" arts.
In fact, maybe that's WHY they don't. Call them the "conservative" arts and the farging iceholes might take them up.
July 23, 2009 2:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
I agree, proof in point is a sister of mine who had worked in a steel mill most of her young adulthood and worked at a community college on a mechanical engineering degree.
In her late thirties (with no kids might I add), she changed her mind, went southwest and got her MD in a matter of years. She's now head of surgery in a major midwestern hospital.
I'll tell you what, she's the same steel worker I know twenty years ago, accept she now drives a Mercedes.
July 23, 2009 4:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
Darn Obama...how dare he play the race card, by being black!
July 23, 2009 11:06 AM | Reply | Permalink
It's true, we'll hear this, and that the white guy sending the witch doctor e-mail isn't racist!
Argh, the Half-Blood Prince is so embarrassed for my palid, pale white people.
July 23, 2009 1:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
Gee. Isn't Obama "making a statement" about being African-American every time he appears on TV with the Presidential seal behind him? That's before he ever says a word. It's a fact, and it's sort of hard to overlook.
How much longer until the conservatives demand that Obama appear at his Press Conferences in White Face so as not to embarrass the conservative racists. They really don't want to recognize that Racism is no longer such a major part of the basic fabric of American society and that what is left is disappearing as we old fogy's die off.
I really love that conservative discomfort. I never thought I'd live to see it.
July 23, 2009 2:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah! White face worked well for Queen Elizabeth I; made her look ethereal.
July 24, 2009 11:24 AM | Reply | Permalink
It's amazing (and then again, it's not) that Republicans simply cannot debate this president’s policies without resorting to racism!
July 23, 2009 11:06 AM | Reply | Permalink
A technologically challenged and unsavvy doctor. What a surprise. Still, it's amazing that they can't even muster enough perspective to imagine how OTHERS might see this -- or enough brains to realize the inevitability that others WILL see this.
July 23, 2009 11:56 AM | Reply | Permalink
Just how do you think HE saw it?
July 23, 2009 12:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
quote: Still, it's amazing that they can't even muster enough perspective to imagine how OTHERS might see this -- or enough brains to realize the inevitability that others WILL see this.
As I recall from my general Psychology class, this is pretty much a textbook example of what Psychologists label a Sociopath or Psychopath.
Psychopaths are incapable of empathy. Claiming empathy is a flaw.. where have I heard that recently? This is, at least, one reason why we think of Psychopaths torturing animals.. they're incapable of understanding the Pain they're inflicting because they can't physically feel it.
Sociopaths just don't care. They understand that they're hurting people, or doing something wrong but it doesn't matter to them.
Personally, I think we've got a lot of psychopathic people in the conservative movement, including those in public office. Drafting Torture is a good example of psychopathic behavior.
IMHO, the Democrats (I can't uniformly call them liberal) seem to me to be on the Sociopathic side. They understand people's suffering and realize enough about people's reactions to hide anything egregious they do (or they try).. but in the end some of them just don't care.
July 23, 2009 1:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
That would require having a policy to articulate. They resort to racist attacks because they have nothing else.
July 24, 2009 7:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is just as low as one can go. What is so disgusting about this, is a so called professional did this.
The SOB should be prosecuted. No other President in history has ever been so subjected to so much Racism. What the hell is our country becoming?
July 23, 2009 11:08 AM | Reply | Permalink
> No other President in history has ever been
> so subjected to so much Racism.
> What the hell is our country becoming?
It was always racist at this level. It just didnt matter as a person of color never really came up this high and was never expected to.
July 23, 2009 11:15 AM | Reply | Permalink
"This is just as low as one can go."
Would you like to take a bet on that. They can go lower and most assuredly will.
July 23, 2009 11:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
They're angry now. If Health care reform passes, they'll go off the charts, start new and higher charts and quickly go off those too.
It took a while for the conservatives to flake out over Clinton taking away "their" Presidency. They're ahead of schedule already on Obama.
That's probably one reason why Obama has been setting his deadlines to get health care reform passed quickly.
July 23, 2009 2:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
It just shows the the intellectual level the GOP and conservatives are operating at concerning health care reform, which is a deadly serious issue.
This isn't about some scandal involving a blowjob. The health and welfare of millions of Americans are affected by this legislation and they deserve serious and intelligent attention.
But this is what is coming from the opposition: obstruction, distraction, untruths, lollygagging and tomfoolery.
July 23, 2009 11:10 AM | Reply | Permalink
This is the intellectual level they are acting at on everything.
July 23, 2009 11:17 AM | Reply | Permalink
They are distinctly NON INTELLECTUAL. I believe the Republican party operates somewhere between reptile and neanderthal.
The science of global warming, the science of evolution, the science of anything just never makes a dent in their amoral accumulations of power and money. I honestly believe that someday Republicanism will be an easily recognizable and treatable form of mental illness. Until then we just have to fight them with common sense and a good dose of shame.
July 23, 2009 12:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
I believe the Republican party operates somewhere between reptile and neanderthal.
That's insulting to both reptiles and Neanderthals...
July 23, 2009 12:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think they operate from the same set of principles as the Fascists and Islamicists do. The basis of those principles are fundamentally anti-intellectual. Not just without intellect, but actively opposed to intellectual thought and practice.
That's the great common bond between those from the John Birch tradition, those from the Racism tradition, and the christianist evangelical fundamentalists. All of those traditions specifically reject intellectualism and the use of the intellect to run society and the individual life. Like the Libertarians, they never question and test their assumptions. If they applied the intellect they'd have to. And they all react angrily if you question their assumptions.
July 23, 2009 2:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Intellectual? YOUR VICE PRESIDENT stated that "we need to spend more to keep from going bankrupt." Try that in YOUR house and tell me how intellectually sound it is.
Liberals are no more "intellectual" than Republicans, they just have a superiority complex.
July 24, 2009 12:17 AM | Reply | Permalink
Ok Shite for Brains, here's how it works:
In your house, you're hemmorhaging money monthly from your credit card abuse and monthly bills. You reach a point where your spending exceeds your income. You take some of your savings and invest it in other income-producing ventures. If done wisely, your NEW income begins to keep pace or exceed your expenditures.
Moral: Invest wisely and secure a sounder future. Do nothing and go BANKRUPT. Just like OUR VICE PRESIDENT said.
July 24, 2009 9:25 AM | Reply | Permalink
Friends,
That this stuff plays this well among some on the right amazes me. It is clearly more than just anger and craziness motivating these racial attacks on Obama.
I fear that something is coalescing.
July 23, 2009 11:18 AM | Reply | Permalink
This scares me, too. Portraying a group of people as sub-human is what allowed the practice of slavery to go on in this country without most people getting too incensed over it, and it's what ultimately allowed the Nazis to carry on the Holocaust, not just of Jews, but also of Slavs, the mentally ill, etc. with minimal resistance from the rest of the populace. And it's what makes the radical anti-abortion zealots think they are justified in murdering people providing a legal service they disagree with.
The McKalip and anyone else behind this despicable sort of stuff should be exposed for the sick racists they are.
July 23, 2009 12:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
Make that "exposed and denounced."
July 23, 2009 12:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
The picture is an insult to all thinking Americans who voted the Repubs out and Barack Obama in.
Continued downward spiraling marginalization of the Repubs.
Keep it up Repubs. Can't wait to see what it gets you in 2010 and 2012.
July 23, 2009 11:22 AM | Reply | Permalink
Sounds like a man who has benefited richly from a system that pays for procedures instead of outcomes. Doubt he'll be applying for a job at the Mayo Clinic any time soon.
July 23, 2009 11:28 AM | Reply | Permalink
I think this should be a subject at the hospitals where he is on staff. I would not want this man operating on me if I were a person of color. I am sure there are other racist doctors, I just wonder how many of them take the time to forward and comment on racist email. I've said this before...many of the people that love this stuff are the "Birthers" and right wing extremists who also are armed to the max.
July 23, 2009 11:29 AM | Reply | Permalink
Bastard!
July 23, 2009 11:30 AM | Reply | Permalink
Methinks his day is only going to get busier!
July 23, 2009 11:31 AM | Reply | Permalink
Dr. Douche is not racists, but mental geo-capped.
Obama is not from Papua New Guinea.
July 23, 2009 11:34 AM | Reply | Permalink
Suppose we photo shopped a picture of Antonin Scalia dressed in a pin striped suit with spats, a fedora, and holding a tommy gun while standing in front of a truck load of beer barrels ala the Al Capone years.....
July 23, 2009 11:38 AM | Reply | Permalink
Well after Scalia appointed Georgie Boy president in Bush v Gore, I think the picture of a thug with a gun comes pretty close to an underlying truth.
July 23, 2009 12:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sounds good to me, with one exception. Do both Scalia and Alito in one pic.
July 23, 2009 2:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
I agree with the concept that this may have been a racial play... or it may not have been.
What I AM seeing, however, is the medias need to not only report the fact that Obama was portrayed as a witchdoctor, but also the need to also propagate the same picture which they accuse McKalip of propagating.
Looks as though everyone has a need to portray our president as a witchdoctor for one reason or another.
Apparently, the problem is not that he is portrayed in a way that debases him, but WHY he is portrayed in a way that debases him.
Reminds me of just how much our military troops have been used (by both Republicans AND Democrats)) to prove their points.
In the end, however, they are still but pawns and being used.. IMHO
July 23, 2009 11:40 AM | Reply | Permalink
JD, Just wondering what you think should be done? Should people who find this appalling just ignore it because calling attention to it causes a spectacle? I live in a multi-racial family; my partner and son are African American. When I point out racist things that happen to them, the major response is, "Do things like that still happen?" I think we have a duty to bring the ugliness out in the light of day so that people know that it still exists.
July 23, 2009 11:53 AM | Reply | Permalink
I agree. Sunlight, as they say, is the best disinfectant.
It was seeing with their own eyes on television the brutality with which civil rights protests were met in the South that galvanized the rest of the country behind the civil rights movement in the 1960s. It was seeing the reality of the Vietnam conflict on television and in magazines that moved public sentiment against the Vietnam War. And it was the publication of the pictures from Abu Ghraib that finally started the process that we hope will end the abusive practices this country has engaged in during its "war on terror."
Denial, looking the other way, sweeping this stuff under the rug, only helps to perpetuate it.
July 23, 2009 1:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
You know, I saw the picture and I laughed. Who says the GOP-ers are not creative. But what we ought to be doing is NOT showing the photo. To show the photo is to allow it to serve the purpose for which it was intended, to humiliate the President. He's made to look foolish. It's not simply a racist thing at work here, it's humor. They are mocking him.
The story should be about the neurosurgeon who, while he lacks the time for an interview, has the time to post this. We should be talking to other neurosurgeons about how this kind of childish behavior reflects on them. This is grade school prankery. I'm more shocked a neurosurgeon put it up then that it was put up.
C'mon. Did anyone see Sarah Palin in a bikini holding a rifle at poolside? It's great to be incensed with the racist character of the picture, but the racists do not need encouragement. This is about demeaning his prestige. Knocking him off the pedestal on which he is standing. Points to the GOP for being creative. People, for an instant, thought their care would be provided by a witchdoctor! Don't think of an elephant! Ya did, didn't ya?
July 23, 2009 1:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
One thing to do is to support the work of the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Alabama. It is fighting the hate wars from the good side by going after the Klan, skinheads, etc.
I worked alongside them 35 years ago, and they're still at it, bless their hearts.
www.splcenter.org
July 23, 2009 2:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks for the pretzel . . .
Got any mustard I can slather on that puppy?
~OGD~
July 23, 2009 12:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
You can have whatever fell off my hot dog.
July 23, 2009 9:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
Why are the Republicans afraid of health reform? Is it just the money? Is it because it is Obama? Or do they really think that they wont get the same health care that they already have? Why are the Republicans doing everything possible to kill the much needed health reform?
As a "bleeding heart" liberal, I just don't understand.
July 23, 2009 11:42 AM | Reply | Permalink
Because they believe in laissez-faire capitalism unfettered by government control or regulation coupled with a complete lack of empathy and compassion for others. In otherwords, it's every [rich, white] man for himself and the hell with the rest.
July 23, 2009 11:54 AM | Reply | Permalink
31tudeor, because Republicans like to be free and unfettered in screwing over everyone else, they want to run your life, they want power over the most personal decisions of women, but they don't want anyone to restrict their lives one little bit.
Its also OK for them to dump their wives and engage in adultery but its not OK for their political adversaries. They believe God favors them on all these points. They are only concerned about themselves, for instance Newt had to be sued to provide support for his own children from his first marriage, Palin uses her children to advance her career and Jeb Bush didn't even show up in a Florida Court when his daughter was up on drug charges.
They also believe they should be above the law and Constitution while anyone who opposes them is by definition breaking the law (the law that says there is no law for Republicans-its not real, its delusional like they are).
July 23, 2009 11:54 AM | Reply | Permalink
I have begun to think that politicians (unfortunately on both sides) see this as a game that is about winning and losing. I think if health care reform fails, Republicans think that they can claim it as a win for their side.
July 23, 2009 11:59 AM | Reply | Permalink
Totally agree...
The opportunists in Washington long age stopped considering the folks who voted for them. Now, it is but a game to play between two teams... the public is no longer in the equation IMHO
July 23, 2009 12:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
BINGO!!! What do I win?!?!
July 23, 2009 1:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
As another bleeding heart liberal, I think yes it is mostly about the money. Republicans feel entitled as white wealthy "aristocrats" to decide just how much money they will let "trickle down" on the underclass. If we dare suggest that their "christian charity" is not enough to meet real human needs it just really pisses them off. How dare the "darkies" come pounding on their doors demanding anything!
July 23, 2009 12:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
Your biases against Christianity are blatant. My guess is that you don't donate anything to anybody.
July 24, 2009 4:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
Because at a fundamental level, Republicans simply do not care about other's well-being. It's as straightforward as that.
July 23, 2009 12:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
They already have the best health care and they know no one will take it away from them - they just don't want to pay to help others get health care - not even the best - they don't want folks to get any.
July 23, 2009 1:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes, it is the money. The big guys are afraid they will have to find other investments because insurance won't be the lucrative golden egg layer they're enjoying, and the littel guys are just afraid. They live in fear: of terrorists and anyone who resembles them; socialists and anything that resembles sharing; atheists and anything that resembles science; and disarmanent, or anything that resembles peace. These fears are encouraged by the big guys to drag the little guys around to do their bidding. The big guys fear none of these.
The big guys simply wish to retain their wealth unfettered by any obligation to diminish the well-being of anyone else.
July 23, 2009 1:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
There are only three things to remember about the Republican Party.
Money, money, and mo' money.
July 23, 2009 2:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's no surprise that the election of a black man to the highest office in America is bringing out the racists. I expect to see more of this pernicious stuff which, after all, is supported and encouraged by most of the rightwing media.
July 23, 2009 11:43 AM | Reply | Permalink
These sick racists. They really can't help themselves, can they? It's like a serious disease that they just can't shake. And no amount of money can cure them.
July 23, 2009 11:44 AM | Reply | Permalink
I did a quick search and found the following:
In 2005 Dr. McKalip argued against a set of rules that according to the legal documents:
"the reporting of the SIP measures is a step in the implementation of a "long-range plan for making available performance outcome and financial data that will allow consumers to compare health care service" as required by Subsection 408.05(3)(l)1., Florida Statutes."
http://www.fdhc.state.fl.us/schs/pdf/FinalOrder9_26_05-AgendaItem3.pdf
July 23, 2009 11:47 AM | Reply | Permalink
Classic Limberger Klan member.. Do you actually expect anything else from these folks that run around in their robes and head dressings ??
Don't..You're wasting your time...they believe Rush is right regardless of FACTS...they live in a world where delusion of adequacy is true fulfillment.
July 23, 2009 11:53 AM | Reply | Permalink
another interesting read, penned by the good doctor.
Seems $ is big motivator here..
http://www.takebackmedicine.com/from-david-mckalip-md/
July 23, 2009 11:54 AM | Reply | Permalink
Has Michael Steele heard about this? He may want to combine the"witch doctor" angle with his fried-chicken gambit, as follows:
tempting black folks with fried chicken + images of blacks as witch doctors = many more black recruits to the Rethuglican Party
July 23, 2009 11:55 AM | Reply | Permalink
Didn't he say he was going to bring the fried chicken AND the watermelon?
July 23, 2009 2:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's reassuring to know that the Repugs want to be a party of inclusion.
July 23, 2009 11:59 AM | Reply | Permalink
The joke is on McKalip anyway. That ain't no African Witch Doctor. It's a fellow from Papua, New Guinea - could be a carpenter if you look at them adzes. Don't believe it - check this out:
http://blogs.mirror.co.uk/developing-world-stories/css/Papua%20New%20Guinea%20tribesman%20in%20native%20head-dress.jpg
When it comes to racism, any Black will do.
July 23, 2009 12:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
"When it comes to racism, any Black will do."
Aren't the people assuming this is an African person exhibiting similar tendencies?
July 23, 2009 12:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sorry, Skippy, I have no idea what you mean by your question. Can you flesh it out a bit?
July 23, 2009 3:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
You're saying that the wingnut photoshopper went looking for an African image and instead found a Papua New Guinean, figuring that any dark-skinned witch-doctor-type would do. But in this thread (and others) people tend to assume that the witch doctor (if he is one) pictured is African. That makes it a little tough to throw stones for that specific offense. Just sayin'.
July 23, 2009 4:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
I don't think I'm saying that - maybe I am, and I'm not aware of it. What I'm trying to say is that a racist doesn't really care at all as long as the image represents the racial stereotype of the Witchdoctor.
At first I thought it may have been a Amazonian Indian - but the adze and wooden floor didn't fit that theory.
July 23, 2009 5:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
This guy is also a FreedomWorks activist (Tea Party people). Recently, FreedomWorks made its anti-healtcare petition signatures and comments available for download (including signers full names and the towns they lived in). The signatories included calls to violence, assassination, birther nonsense, and outright racism (N-word) in their comments. See here:
http://www.freedomworks.org/blog/joseph-onorati/title-test#comments
July 23, 2009 12:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hey look, there's an invitation from the Dr's website: "If you are a member of a civic or medical group and would like for Dr. McKalip to speak at one of your meetings, please call his office at 727-822-3500"
He seems like the perfect candidate for the next gop convention keynote speaker.
July 23, 2009 12:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
Let's rais emoney and he can come speak!!! Then he can face the music on camera and we can all get up and say the Pledge of Allegiance!
July 23, 2009 1:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm going to play devil's advocate and say that sometimes things that seem baldly racist on their face may only appear that way. Let's say you're looking for a way to describe Obama's health care plan in as unflattering terms as possible -- pure quackery -- and want to convey it in a single image. Maybe I'm not very imaginative, but just a couple images come to mind -- a 19th-century bloodletter, a witch doctor or a chinese medicine practitioner. I need to clarify the latter -- I'm strictly talking about those who do things like milking the bile of moon bears because it's supposed to cure a variety of ailments (see http://www.animalsasia.org). I don't know think those guys wear recognizable outfits though, so I'd choose between the first two. Should I throw out the witch doctor just because Obama is black? Does that seem overly sensitive? I can see putting Bush's face on a witch doctor body after his comments about people getting fine medical care in the E.R.; I would think that would be equally funny and relevant. I just see some gray area here, in contrast to some of the other racist humor that the right comes up with with regards to Obama.
Of course, I'm probably giving this guy too much credit; I'm sure the Freepers are loving the photo in their typically angry, stupid racist way, and the photo's creator might be among their ranks.
July 23, 2009 12:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
Edited to add: the hammer and sickle makes me less charitable. Since that's their angle, a photo of some sort of Soviet scientist in a fur hat would provide a more cohesive editorial image.
July 23, 2009 12:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
Making Obama a patent-medicine huckster with a covered wagon full of little bottles (and lots and lots of splendiferous adjectives on the sides of the wagon cover touting the benefits of the medicine) might have worked without raising the race angle. But I'm not an artist; what do others think?
July 23, 2009 1:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
funny, I googled 'snake oil salesman' and happened to find this.. http://starmaker.today.com/files/2009/02/obama-the-snake-oil-salesman.png
July 23, 2009 9:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
How hard is it to figure out that that is racist? It's not brain surgery...
Oh.
July 23, 2009 12:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
Dr. McKalip practices at the following hospitals in FL:
Bayfront Medical Center
St. Anthony's Hospital
Northside
Edward White Hospital
If you live in the area of any of these, you might want ask the hospital about their liability if Dr. McK has one or more poor outcomes on persons of color considering he is now revealed as a first-class racist which may affect his performance. There's nothing like the money angle.
July 23, 2009 12:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
this is why Obama's presidency will be blessed....because of people like these.
July 23, 2009 12:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ha. I'll bet his day has gotten even busier by now.
July 23, 2009 12:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
I’m sure if the White House were able to release pictures of Dr. McKalip’s face photo shopped on a giant hog with his name on it feasting on a trough of sick people labeled healthcare profits he might take the social contract a bit more seriously. But he knows they won’t and can’t. He is a racist and a coward. I’m sure he shows the same sensitivity with his patients.
July 23, 2009 12:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
Deep thought: Why weren't all the pictures of Bush-as-monkey racist? They sure would be if the same device were used against Obama.
Hopefully Obama's presidency can raise the level of discourse ... his race certainly takes some political tools that both sides use with abandon off the table for the GOP. Will the democrats rise to their own new standards? Bush-as-monkey was pretty fun!
July 23, 2009 12:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
Because white people are not typically denigrated by being portrayed as monkeys. When you see a white man protrayed as a monkey, it is perceived as a caricature of that particular individual, not as a racial stereotype.
July 23, 2009 1:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
In the case of Bush, it was a chimpanzee and not a monkey that was used to caricaturize him.
Largely because of the resemblance he had in some stills at press conferences to common chimp poses.
As mentioned, it was a caricature of an individual, based on physical resemblance rather than ancestry.
It also allowed folks to use derogatory terms like
"chimperor".
July 23, 2009 1:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
If your comments aren't racist, then I don't know what is. Again, typical hypocrisy coming from rabid leftists. Par for the course.
July 24, 2009 4:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm guessing that there is a lot you don't know.
That's not a bad thing. I have become very comfortable with the enormous amount that I don't know.
I think it's important to keep a self-awareness of that.
August 16, 2009 11:40 AM | Reply | Permalink
Is it really that hard to understand?
July 24, 2009 9:34 AM | Reply | Permalink
It would be nice to see this story and this guys picture all over Florida. I wonder how many people would want to go to a doctor that is a racist cretin like this guy? Florida has a large population of minorities that are well acquainted with persecution and discrimination. A nice big slump in his medical practice would be justice.
July 23, 2009 12:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
"the artist"???
Zachary---If the doctor used that word you should have put quotes around it. If he did not use that word I would suggest you find another more suitable term. I can suggest a few but I know you don't need the help.
July 23, 2009 1:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
Perhaps the greedy, racist, bast..d and most probably incompetent neurosurgeon will someday require the services of another neurosurgeon. I hope to hell, the only doctor available is black and has a bone in his nose.
July 23, 2009 1:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
"we just have to fight them with common sense and a good dose of shame."
Impossible to do, since they reject common sense and have no shame. Nice try, though.
July 23, 2009 1:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
Actually, the hard core lack the commen sens eand racism. We simply use these tools todiscourage the fence sitters from giving them any consideration whatsoever.
July 23, 2009 2:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
Here is his website
http://www.mckalip.md/
and here is his email
dmckalip@neuro3.net
I have already emailed this pig. I would recommend others do the same. This type of racism needs to be met with an outcry from individuals.
July 23, 2009 1:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
...a "strange proliferation of online racism among conservatives." The important word there is "online." There's nothing strange, or at least unusual, about racism from right-wing Republicans, on the contrary--it's a fundamental ideological plank, and strategy. It's only that with the leakiness of the internet, everybody else gets to get a close look at what these folks are about. Thanks for publicizing.
July 23, 2009 1:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
Something that might want interest you. Do a Google images search and look up the pictures of the KKK march in Washington D.C. at the Democratic National Convention. Look up the history of the KKK. Which political party tried to give blacks rights? Which tried to stop blacks from equal rights? Which political party started the KKK? Which political party opposed equal rights for blacks until the party decided they wanted the votes of blacks and so began to manipulate them? Which political party has many members that believe the abortion of blacks (and other minorities)is good for society? Were blacks better off before the welfare interventions of a certain political party began? Can you find history books that show blacks had a vibrant community and solid family values at one point- until the Democrats decided to give them a present. Can you figure out what that present was? Which political party likes to keep blacks enslaved to the government and strives to keep a victim mentality among blacks to preserve the votes of blacks?
Please don't engage in puppy dog politics. Sometimes you have to look a little further than sound bites that make you feel good for the truth.
July 23, 2009 7:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
Are you seriously that delusional?
July 24, 2009 7:38 AM | Reply | Permalink
You're an idiot, and it would take too long to explain to you how you're an idiot...and I get the impression you enjoy being an idiot. Good luck with that!
July 25, 2009 2:29 AM | Reply | Permalink
Something that might want interest you. Do a Google images search and look up the pictures of the KKK march in Washington D.C. at the Democratic National Convention. Look up the history of the KKK. Which political party tried to give blacks rights? Which tried to stop blacks from equal rights? Which political party started the KKK? Which political party opposed equal rights for blacks until the party decided they wanted the votes of blacks and so began to manipulate them? Which political party has many members that believe the abortion of blacks (and other minorities)is good for society? Were blacks better off before the welfare interventions of a certain political party began? Can you find history books that show blacks had a vibrant community and solid family values at one point- until the Democrats decided to give them a present. Can you figure out what that present was? Which political party likes to keep blacks enslaved to the government and strives to keep a victim mentality among blacks to preserve the votes of blacks?
Please don't engage in puppy dog politics. Sometimes you have to look a little further than sound bites that make you feel good for the truth.
July 23, 2009 7:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Of course, you're referring to the pre-Civil Rights Act era when Southern racists were Democrats and Republicans were the Party of Lincoln. However, as the world doesn't remain the same, but evolves, those roles have reversed and Southern (and elsewhere) racists are predominantly identified with the Republican party, as are neo-nazis and other types of white supremacists.
Are there racists who are Democrats? Of course. Does the current Democratic Party as a whole appear to appease and support its racists as does the current Republican Party?
July 24, 2009 9:41 AM | Reply | Permalink
Anyone wishing to complain about this horrendous photograph should call the AMA or the Florida Medical Association which elected McKalip as their delegate to the AMA. Here is the contact info:
American Medical Association
Call (312) 464-4430.
Florida Medical Association
Call 850-224-6496
Their Media Relations person is Lynne Takacs.
Her e-mail is: ltakacs@medone.com
I would recommend everyone contact both organizations and let them know that Dr. McKalip's actions should not be tolerated.
July 23, 2009 1:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
I just got an undeliverable on email to ltakacs@medone.com
July 23, 2009 3:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
I am just saying I would not want to be the one who is responsible for this and who doesn't apoligize for this now.
Your karma is about to bite you in your ass.
July 23, 2009 1:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
McKalip is a brain surgeon. The verse in the Gospel about physician heal thyself would seem fully appropriate to his profession and specialty. He could also audition for the Scarecrow role in the next remake of the Wizard of Oz.
July 23, 2009 1:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Why do we keep putting up with this?
July 23, 2009 1:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm not reading all the posts so I don't know if anyone noticed this already, but the body in the picture is definitely not from an african male, it's the body of a Papua New Guine tribesman, who certainly is not a witch doctor and is probably wearing some type of celebratory garb.
How can someone find that funny I don't know.
My sense of humor is a little more refined than that.
July 23, 2009 2:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
SEND HIM AN EMAIL....
St. Anthony's Professional Office Building See map
1201 5th Ave. N.
Suite 210
St. Petersburg, Florida 33705
727-822-3500
727-822-3228 (FAX)
dmckalip@neuro3.net
July 23, 2009 2:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
The e-mail of Lynne T. of the Florida Med. Assoc. is
ltakacs@medone.org
(not ltakacs@medone.com as indicated in a previous post)
July 23, 2009 2:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
The thing I don't understand about that image is the communist symbolism that's used. The Canadians and French enjoy UHC, and their not communist at all. Why is it that when anyone brings up the subject of UHC, the people who complain are the people making all of the money fleecing the populous, and why do they always point to Communism? I haven't seen Russians or Communism as a threat to my way of life since...well...EVER!
Unlike most people here-I'm all smiles over the image. I see it as pure hatership, and honestly-these days that's the only way you can tell if you're doing the right thing. So if Obama is getting hated on-he must be doing something right.
July 23, 2009 2:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
One could argue that photoshopping Obama's head onto the body of a Papua New Guinea tribesman and calling him a witch doctor is not racist, I suppose. I believe it is racist.
However, photoshopping a bone through Obama's nose is most assuredly racist as all hell. I'm fairly sure that wasn't there in the source photo of the President.
July 23, 2009 2:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
The person pictured in the original image had the bone through his nose.
http://bit.ly/fSLQR
July 23, 2009 4:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
And? It wasn't in the photo of Obama. So whoever put this together felt it was absolutely essential that the black President should have a bone through his nose. Reminiscent of Rush Limbaugh telling a caller who spoke with what he perceived to be a "black accent" to call back when he got the bone out of his nose.
July 23, 2009 6:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
You haven't done much photoshop work, have you? If I were sticking a face on a body, I'd do everything necessary to make it fit in the original picture. If I were turning you into Jeff Gordon and he was wearing sunglasses with his racing gear, you'd be wearing sunglasses. If I was going to turn Obama into a Papua New Guinean witch doctor, I'd use every accessory of the Papua New Guinean witch doctor.
You're probably right that the original "artist" thought that the bone through the nose was a particularly enjoyable and insulting touch, but that detail isn't what makes them or the photo racist or not.
July 23, 2009 7:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm really tired of liberals helping the wingnuts by reporting and repeating their lunatic propaganda.
July 23, 2009 3:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think some might follow the line "Sunshine is the best disinfectant."
July 23, 2009 4:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
You think stuff like this helps the wingnuts?
Or do you just want to pretend this stuff doesn't exist?
July 23, 2009 4:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think it helps get the wingers' message out. Every liberal blog I visit covers what wingers are doing more closely than health care, for instance, or the wars, or the smart grid - the real issues of the times, in other words. The wingnuts have become an obsession for...the left. It's similar to the MSM covering the right as if they were still in power. And maybe they are still in power. They continue to dominate the discussin in the ether, the air waves,and the satellites.
July 26, 2009 4:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
You think stuff like this helps the wingnuts?
Or do you just want to pretend this stuff doesn't exist?
July 23, 2009 4:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Is this the same Witch Doctor that Sarah Palin goes to church with and credits here political career with? Just wondering......
July 23, 2009 5:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
No one has mentioned that the 'C' in ObamaCare is the Islamic Crescent. After all, this 'witch doctor' is a closet Muslim.
July 23, 2009 5:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
actually it's the hammer and sickle; it's a communist thing
July 23, 2009 7:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
Nonsense, this is obviously intended as a great compliment, for most healers of indigineous tribes know their craft very well, which is more than can be said for the incompetent-in-chief.
July 23, 2009 5:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is not intended as being racial. It is intended to show what type of care we will receive under Obamacare. You know- it is so interesting that when handicapped childre