David McKalip: October 2009

TPMMuckraker
David McKalip: October 2009

Zachary Roth | October 21, 2009, 4:13PM

Tea-Partiers, and Dr. David McKalip (inset)

In a bitter internecine feud that is creating serious divisions in the Tea Party movement, David McKalip -- the Florida doctor and health-care reform foe who got in hot water this summer after forwarding a racist picture showing President Obama as a witch doctor -- appears to have sided with a group run by GOP consultants, rather than with his former grassroots allies.

In an email to fellow members of the Tea Party Patriots, sent yesterday and obtained by TPMmuckraker, Texas-based activist Gerald Merits wrote that he has been "approached by a neurosurgeon very active in the movement in Florida asking for me to get involved with the Tea Party Express because the Tea Party Patriots just don't seem to get it."

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Topics: Amy Kremer, David McKalip, Howard Kaloogian, Right-wing extremism, Sal Russo, Tea Parties, Tea Party Express, Tea Party Patriots, Teabaggers

Tom Coburn

Coburn, Price Not Rushing To Embrace Award From Doctor Who Sent Racist Obama Pic

Zachary Roth | October 19, 2009, 4:33PM

Dr. David McKalip

David McKalip, the Florida doctor and health-care-reform opponent who apologized this summer after sending a racist picture of President Obama as a witch-doctor, is trying to cozy up to some of the most extreme Republican reform foes in Congress. But even they want little to do with him, it seems.

Yesterday, McKalip sent an email invitation, obtained by TPMmuckraker, announcing that Doctors for Patient Freedom, the anti-reform group he runs, plans to honor Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) and Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) for their work in fighting to preserve "the freedom patients deserve" in health care. According to the invitation, the ceremony is set to take place November 7th, in conjunction with the upcoming American Medical Association meeting in Houston.

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Topics: Barack Obama, David McKalip, Health Care, Racism, Tom Coburn, Tom Price

David McKalip

Top Health-Care Reform Foe: Racist Emailer Is "Rock Solid Patriot"

Zachary Roth | October 5, 2009, 2:04PM

Greg Scandlen, Heartland Institute

A top conservative health-care reform foe is going to bat for David McKalip, the Florida neurosurgeon and anti-reform activist who this summer was caught by TPMmuckraker sending a racist email that showed President Obama as a witch doctor.

In an email to fellow activists, obtained by TPMmuckraker, Greg Scandlen, the founder and director of Consumers for Health Care Choices, and a senior fellow at the conservative Heartland Institute, called McKalip "one of the best men I know" and "a rock solid patriot." Scandlen also revealed that he himself had urged McKalip to rejoin the fight against reform, after McKalip had temporarily taken a lower profile in the movement in response to widespread outrage over the witch-doctor email.

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Topics: Barack Obama, David McKalip, Greg Scandlen, Health Care, Racism

Barack Obama

Florida Doc Who Sent Obama Witch-Doctor Email Still Helping Lead Anti-Reform Fight

Zachary Roth | October 5, 2009, 12:21PM

Dr. David McKalip

Florida neurosurgeon David McKalip is back in the thick of the fight to stop health-care reform -- just over two months after pledging to withdraw from the public debate on the issue in the wake of a furor set off when TPMmuckraker published a racist email he sent showing President Obama as a witch doctor.

Over the weekend, McKalip emailed a fellow activist, reporting that he had been at a conservative medical association meeting, with leaders of the anti-reform movement, including GOP congressmen Tom Price and Paul Broun, anti-reform writer and activist Betsy McCaughey, and Tea Party coordinator Amy Kremer. Conservative doctors and their allies have been organizing in recent days in response to the White House's event this morning featuring pro-reform doctors.

McKalip's email was then forwarded on to a Tea Party Patriots email list.