Tea Party activists are reacting to the David McKalip setback with defiance and redoubled resolve -- as well as by comparing President Obama's health-care reform plans to slavery, and by attacking TPMmuckraker.

McKalip, a prominent Florida neurosurgeon and conservative activist, announced last week that he would withdraw from the public debate over health-care reform and step down from several medical leadership posts after TPMmuckraker revealed that he had forwarded to other Tea Partiers a racist email showing Obama as a witch doctor.

In a message written Sunday night to that same Tea Party list -- part of a group of emails obtained by TPMmuckraker -- Tea Partier Kathleen Waligore wrote, apparently referring to McKalip: "We lost a great freedom fighter this week," and added that she planned to "double my efforts to make up for our lost patriot." And she ripped the "liberal smear campaign" that exposed McKalip's email.

A few hours later, Barry Bench of Orlando, Florida similarly tried to rally the troops. Bench addressed his message to "Fellow Freedom Fighters and Infiltrators," writing: "The Good Dr made a tragic mistake and yes it is a bitter pill to swallow." He added that supporters of reform "wish to keep our nation going down this road into the darkness of Tyranny led only by the promise of the Plantation Owner."

And this morning, a Tea Partier named Merrylee weighed in with a message titled: "A Zachary Roth And MoveOn/Acorn Challenge." According to Merrylee, if health-care reform passes, Zachary Roth's "day of maturity will come as will his full realization this Bill was the biggest mistake in judgment in his life." She added: "I may or may not be around then, but Zachary Roth WILL remember my words."

Here's the full message from Waligore:

It's been a rough week and I am battle weary.

We lost a great freedom fighter this week and it makes me think:

Is this country that I love going in the right direction? If not, what am I willing to do about it? What am I willing to lose to keep my family's freedom?

I know everyone is busy and is engrossed in their family and work requirements. And I know that people are worried about losing their jobs. Me, too.

But what does this all mean if we don't have our freedoms? If you and I won't fight the battle, then who will?

This week, I witnessed the national liberal smear campaign in action. And I personally experienced physical assault while I was exercising my first amendment right.

People around me are telling me to step back and let someone else fight the fight. You are spending too much time on it. You are setting yourself up as a target. The other side is too powerful.

But I tell them and all that are trying to stop me:

-I am going to rest up (for a few hours) and fight harder
-I am going to double my efforts to make up for our lost patriot
-I am going to be smarter and know how to fight with the arguments
-I am going to remember everyday what is at stake: freedom and liberty can be wiped out with one vote
-I was a swing voter in a swing state: I am not anymore.
-This fight has shown me what is GREAT about this country and what I am willing to do to keep it that way.

Tomorrow, I will go to work and contact the blue dogs and take the fight to the streets to win the hearts and minds of the American people. After all, isn't it "we the people" that make this country great and can preserve it's greatness? I no longer ask why this job has fallen to me and other patriots.

But, I have to ask why aren't more people paying attention? Standing next to me? Why aren't more people taking to the streets like they did in Iran?

If we wait until a freedom is taken away, isn't it too late then? So what are you willing to do today to keep our freedom?

I hope you are willing to stand next to me.

Kathleen Waligore

Here's the one from Bench:

Fellow Freedom Fighters and Infiltrators.
We have lessons to learn and learn we will.
We have more failure and disappointments to come. I know this and accept this.
For we know this a fight; this is a battle; this is a war for the Soul of this Nation.

The Good Dr made a tragic mistake and yes it is a bitter pill to swallow.
I am saddened not for the cause for I know we will feel the Sting of failure again.
I am saddened not just for the DR, for I know there will be more to fall.
But we can, we must move forward.
Let us not go down to their level with something that can be turned against us again. Let us always seek to be careful not to fall into to those traps again.
For in this fight, yes in this fight we either win or we all and including those on the other side, we all lose.
I know full well they have the easy side on this fight.
For they too are fighting; they wish to keep our nation going down this road into the darkness of Tyranny led only by the promise of the Plantation Owner.
Oh yes they seek comfort of the charity of the master.
They seek the false hope of the empty promises.

No my friend they do not see the road that they travel has been traveled before.
They do not see that they are being used while the bonds of slavery begin to shackle there Liberties and Freedoms away. No No No they seek the easy way.
That my Brothers and Sisters; my Fellow Freedom Fighters is why we fight for not only us, but my friends we are fighting for them as well.

Those on the right side of this battle, mind you I said battle, we have taken are licks this week. But let us not shy away from the fight.
No let us not retreat, it was just one battle. There will be many more in this fight to save our country from those that which to take away from the Light of Liberty and the Warmth of Freedom.
The infiltrators have been at war with Liberty from within this country for 100 years.
But have no doubt; no DOUBT this battle will be long. Have no doubt it will be hard.

There are those on the other side that are caught up in the fervor of the moment. They do not fully appreciate what damage they will do.
To them it is the false promise of hand out that is free.
But we know; yes we know that the hand of the Master giving trivial offerings for the bondage of slavery that will undoubtedly come.
Our fight we carry forward not just for us or our side.
But my friends; my Brothers and Sisters, we fight for them too.

So my Fellow Freedom Fighters remember this, the enemy we are fighting are our brothers and sisters that have yet to be awakened to Freedom Plea and Liberty beckoning of hope. We must carry on and take the fight to them. We must pull each other up. We must not back down now. Let us clean our wounds, and learn these lessons.
We will have more lessons to come. Yes more lesson and bitter pills.
But my Friends we absolutely will carry on, WE WILL NOT BE STOPPED!

And for the infiltrator among our ranks, tell your friends we are the Freedom Fighters and we STAND HERE NOW UNITED MORE THAN EVER. We will not back away! WE ARE FREEDOM FIGHTERS not paid activist.

And here's the message from Merrylee:

A Zachary Roth and MoveOn/Acorn Challenge

I welcome dissenting opinion on the board. I hope Move On'ers, Acorns, and Roth will continue to browse our messages. The site should be a daily reading requirement because health care is not a left or right issue. Health care is an issue about the most personal part of all of our lives.

Zachary Roth is young from what I can tell. I suspect he isn't even 30 years old. He's a kid who has no concept of the full implications of this Bill. Should this Bill pass in its present form, his day of maturity will come as will his full realization this Bill was the
biggest mistake in judgment in his life. I may or may not be around then, but Zachary Roth WILL remember my words.

The Zachary Roth's are the "tomorrows" in life, but what he and many other young people don't realize, is a society needs its "yesterdays" to guide it. Without our "yesterdays", we lose our way and relive all the past mistakes of previous generations. The "yesterdays" are the anchors from which the "tomorrows" spring forward. Read Gibran, On Children. It's inspiring.

Therefore, if any of you lurkers are out there ( Move On, Acorn members or Zachary Roth), I would like to engage in a conversation with you. I welcome your response on this Board and will do so with respect for your opinions. I hope you will do likewise.

My first question is simple and one I ask often. This is the question that answers all questions within the two Bills before Congress. Yet it is this simple question, that I can't get an answer to. Perhaps Zachary or someone else out there can set me straight.

Why has Congress exempted themselves, their wives, and their childrens from the Health Care Bills they are passing for all Americans? What do they find objectionable within their own proposed Health Care Plan/Insurance Bills that makes their Plans unacceptable for themselves and their loved ones?

I respectfully await your response.
Merylee

In case you're wondering, Congress hasn't "exempted themselves, their wives, and their childrens" from any of the health-care reform bills being considered. Members of Congress get health care through their employer, and, like many other Americans, will presumably choose to keep their existing coverage. The entire concept of "exempted", implying that other Americans will be required to sign on for government-run health-care, suggests a basic misunderstanding of what's happening.