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David McKalip

MoJo Turns Spotlight On Far-Right Doctors' Group

Zachary Roth | November 18, 2009, 12:14PM

Dr. David McKalip

Mother Jones takes a close look at the far-right doctor's group to which David McKalip -- the Florida neurosurgeon who sent that racist picture of President Obama as a witch doctor -- belongs.

Lately, the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) has been teaming up with the Tea Partiers to fight health-care reform. But as Mother Jones shows, the group is so far out there it makes its Tea Party allies look like David Broder.

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Topics: Barack Obama, David McKalip, Health Care, Right-wing extremism, Tea Parties

David McKalip

In Tea Party Civil War, McKalip Appears To Ditch Former Comrades In Favor Of GOP Consultants

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.

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

Racism

Tea Partiers On McKalip: "We Lost a Great Freedom Fighter" -- And Health-Care Reform Is Like Slavery

Zachary Roth | July 28, 2009, 12:04PM

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.

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Topics: David McKalip, Racism, Right-wing extremism

Barack Obama

Beat Goes On For Florida Doc: McKalip To Step Down As AMA Delegate

Zachary Roth | July 24, 2009, 6:00PM

The fallout from David McKalip's racist email showing President Obama as a witch doctor continues.

A Florida newspaper reports that the prominent St. Petersburg neurosurgeon has said he'll step down from the influential post of delegate to the American Medical Association, saying "I think people will wonder if they can trust me."

The AMA position gave McKalip a role in shaping the national platform of the doctor's lobby. The AMA yesterday had issued a statement distancing itself from the email.

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Topics: Barack Obama, David McKalip, Racism

Barack Obama

Top Anti-Reform Group Working Closely With McKalip, Tea Partiers

Zachary Roth | July 24, 2009, 4:11PM

David McKalip, whose racist email showing President Obama dressed as a witch doctor triggered a barrage of outrage, has worked closely in recent weeks with one of the leading organized efforts to stop health-care reform.

After we posted McKalip's racist email yesterday, he sent a message to several online discussion groups attacking what he saw as "race baiting by Obama camp" and accusing TPM of "painting me as a racist." In addition to the Tea Party group to which he had sent the original image, that second message also went to an address for a discussion group run by Conservatives for Patients Rights, the prominent anti-reform group founded and bankrolled by multimillionaire former hospital CEO Rick Scott, and spotlighted in May by the Washington Post.

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Topics: Barack Obama, David McKalip, Racism

Barack Obama

Tea Party Leader To McKalip: "We All Have Your Back My Friend!"

Zachary Roth | July 24, 2009, 2:53PM

The national coordinator of the American Tea Party movement is standing behind David McKalip and has pledged her help as he struggles with the fallout over the racist email he sent showing President Obama dressed as a witch doctor.

In an email exchange on the Tea Party listserv, obtained by TPMmuckraker, Amy Kremer wrote:

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Topics: Barack Obama, David McKalip, Racism

David McKalip

McKalip Quits As Medical Association President

Zachary Roth | July 24, 2009, 1:42PM

David McKalip is resigning as president-elect of the Pinellas County Medical Association.

In a resignation letter reported on by the St. Petersburg Times, McKalip wrote:

I believe that it would be in the best interests of the Pinellas County Medical Association and its mission to serve patients, if I step down from the association at this time.

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Topics: Barack Obama, David McKalip

David McKalip

Citing Email Flap, McKalip Says He'll Withdraw From Public Debate Over Healthcare

Zachary Roth | July 24, 2009, 12:40PM

Dr. David McKalip has told fellow conservative activists that thanks to the flap over his racist email showing President Obama as a witch doctor, he will no longer appear publicly in opposition to health-care reform.

"For now, in the interest of protecting this movement from any collateral damage, I am withdrawing from making media appearances on health system reform," McKalip wrote this morning in an email -- obtained by TPMmuckraker -- to fellow members of an online health-care discussion group affiliated with the Tea Party movement. The email went to the same recipients to which McKalip sent the original racist email.

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Topics: Barack Obama, David McKalip, Racism

David McKalip

Rubio Won't Say Whether He'll Sever Ties With McKalip

Zachary Roth | July 24, 2009, 11:05AM

Are David McKalip's political allies backing away from him -- despite his apology for sending a racist email depicting President Obama as a witch doctor?

A spokesman for Florida GOP gubernatorial candidate Marco Rubio declined to tell TPMmuckraker whether Rubio would continue to work with McKalip, who last month co-hosted a $500-per-person fundraiser for Rubio at the Grand Bellagio Clubhouse in Clearwater.

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Topics: Barack Obama, David McKalip, Racism

Barack Obama

McKalip: I'm No Racist -- I Once Had A Career Counseling Day For Black Kids

Zachary Roth | July 24, 2009, 9:12AM

More McKalip fallout:

The Florida Medical Association yesterday condemned McKalip's racist email and called on him to apologize to the president:

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Topics: Barack Obama, David McKalip, Racism

Racism

Doctor On Racist Obama Email: "I Sincerely Apologize"

Zachary Roth | July 24, 2009, 8:49AM

David McKalip -- the Florida neurosurgeon and healthcare reform opponent who sent a racist email showing President Obama dressed as a witch doctor with a loin cloth and a bone through his nose, which was posted yesterday by TPMmuckraker -- has apologized directly to the president.

Through a P.R. representative, McKalip put out the following statement: