Zachary Roth | October 23, 2009, 4:31PM

A Tea Party activist today used a U.S. military email address to call for "civil disobedience" in opposition to the policies of the Obama administration.

In a message sent this morning to fellow members of the Tea Party Patriots, who had been discussing movement strategy, Richard A. Correa Sr., who identifies himself as a retired sergeant, wrote:

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Topics: Racism, Richard Correa, Right-wing extremism, Tea Party Patriots

Voting

DOJ Vet: Plan For Panther Hearings Shows Key Voting-Rights Panel Is "Kind Of A Joke"

Zachary Roth | October 22, 2009, 3:24PM

USCCR Commissioner Todd Gaziano

Democrats and civil-rights advocates are slamming conservative members of a key federal voting-rights panel for a plan to hold hearings on the controversial "New Black Panthers" voter intimidation case, and are expressing intense concern that the commission is being shifted away from its traditional role as a protector of the rights of minority voters.

Yesterday, Main Justice reported that the commission, dominated by Bush appointees, planned to hold hearings on the New Black Panther case, which the Justice Department dismissed earlier this year. In a now-famous incident from Election Day 2008, a member of a group called the New Black Panther Party was caught on camera clad in combat boots and brandishing a night stick at a Philadelphia polling station.

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Topics: Barack Obama, Eric Holder, Hans von Spakovsky, Justice Department, New Black Panthers, Racism, Todd Gaziano, Voting

Pat Buchanan

Buchanan: White Americans Are Losing Their Country!

Zachary Roth | October 20, 2009, 11:32AM

Pat Buchanan, in his latest column, in reference to white Americans:

America was once their country. They sense they are losing it. And they are right.

Don't tell MSNBC!

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Topics: Media, Pat Buchanan, Racism, Right-wing extremism

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

Barack Obama

Feds: Indicted Man Had Been Warned About Threatening Emails

Zachary Roth | October 19, 2009, 10:00AM

President Barack Obama speaks at a Human Rights Campaign event.

We're getting a few more details on John Gimbel, the California man we told you about Friday, who's been charged for sending a racist, profanity-filled email that called for the death of President Obama and for the words "Fed shit" to be written on his chest -- an apparent reference to the recent death of a Census Bureau worker in what seems to have been an act of anti-government violence.

This wasn't the first such email Gimbel has sent, say the Feds. He fired off a similar one earlier last month, according to a criminal complaint filed by the Secret Service, and reported by the AP.

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Topics: Barack Obama, John Gimbel , Racism, Right-wing extremism

Barack Obama

Indicted Man Threatened To Kill President And Scrawl "Fed ..." On His Chest

Zachary Roth | October 16, 2009, 12:57PM

President Barack Obama speaks at a Human Rights Campaign event.

In the latest unhinged threat on Barack Obama's life, a California man has been indicted by a federal grand jury after allegedly writing a deranged and racist email screed that urged recipients to "kill the 'president,'" and seemed to invoke the recent death of a Census Bureau worker in an apparent act of anti-government violence.

On September 28th, according to the indictment filed by prosecutors and examined by TPMmuckraker, John Gimbel of Crescent City sent an email whose subject line read:

Operation kill big-[epithet]-rig: kill the 'president' [epithet], then write 'fed shit' on his chest with a felt tip.

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Topics: Barack Obama, Census Bureau, John Gimbel , Racism, Right-wing extremism

Michael Steele

Behind The GOP.com Re-Launch: Meet The Writer Steele Used To Buff Party's Image

Zachary Roth | October 14, 2009, 6:37PM

Author of GOP.com "Heroes" section, Michael Zak's homepage

The big GOP.com relaunch has been plagued by technical and other snafus, as we've been documenting. But those mishaps may be the least of it.

The new site is at pains to present the party as racially tolerant, and to stress its anti-slavery history. But Michael Steele and Co. have outsourced that task to a writer who has argued that Democrats' "socialist policies have recreated a vile new version of the slave system."

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Topics: Back to Basics for the Republican Party, GOP, House Republican Policy Committee, Michael Steele, Michael Zak, Racism, Republican National Committee

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

Justice Department

Justice To Probe Decision To Drop "New Black Panther" Voter Intimidation Case

Zachary Roth | September 10, 2009, 2:49PM

The Justice Department's internal ethics unit has opened an investigation into the decision to drop a voter intimidation complaint against members of the New Black Panther Party, the Washington Times reported yesterday.

In a letter sent late last month, Mary Patrice Brown, who runs DOJ's Office of Professional Responsibility, told Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) that OPR had "initiated an inquiry into the matter."

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Topics: Barack Obama, DOJ Office of Professional Responsibility, George Bush, John McCain, Justice Department, Racism, Voting

Media

Leaked Email: CNBC Went To Tea Partiers Looking for Angry Protests

Zachary Roth | August 12, 2009, 12:21PM

CNBC approached Tea Party activists, looking for angry protest events that would make good television, according to a leaked email from a Tea Party discussion group. And one Tea Bagger responded by flagging an upcoming event that, he said, "should be a riot ... literally."

Yesterday, Tea Party Patriots national coordinator Jenny Beth Martin sent an email, obtained by TPMmuckraker, to a Tea Party google group. Martin told the group: "We have a media request for an event this week that will have lots of energy and lots of anger. This is for CNBC."

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Topics: Health Care, Media, Racism, Right-wing extremism

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

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:

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Topics: Barack Obama, David McKalip, Racism

Racism

Conservative Activist Forwards Racist Pic Showing Obama As Witch Doctor

Zachary Roth | July 23, 2009, 10:34AM

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.

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Topics: Barack Obama, David McKalip, Racism, Right-wing extremism

Racism

Accused Far-Right Killer Has Bizarre, Troubled Past

Zachary Roth | June 16, 2009, 5:18PM

So this morning, the story of Shawna Forde -- the alleged ringleader in the recent murder of a nine-year-old girl and her father near the US-Mexico border -- appeared to be pretty run-of-the-mill stuff: it looked like your standard plot to start a "revolution against the US government" by recruiting members of the Aryan Nations to a vigilante anti-immigrant border-patrol group, in order to rob Mexican drug cartels, then use that money to free kidnap victims in Syria.

Dog bites man, we figured.

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Topics: Racism, Right-wing extremism

Right-wing extremism

More Far-Right Violence? Anti-Immigrant Suspects In Arizona Killing Have Ties To White Supremacists

Zachary Roth | June 16, 2009, 12:48PM

The recent murders of a Kansas doctor who performed late-term abortions and of a guard at the National Holocaust Museum have stoked fears of a rise in right-wing extremist violence -- just as that much-maligned DHS report predicted. And now it looks like we've got another one to add to the list...

According to local law enforcement, three people posing as police officers forced their way into the home of Raul Flores in Arivaca, Arizona, about 10 miles from the Mexican border, on May 30. They shot and killed Flores and his nine-year-old daughter, and wounded Flores' wife. The three, Shawna Forde, Jason Bush, and Albert Gaxiola, were arrested and charged last Thursday and Friday.

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Topics: Racism, Right-wing extremism

Right-wing extremism

SHOCKER: Buchanan Prefers "The Old Bigotry" To Affirmative Action

Zachary Roth | June 12, 2009, 1:55PM

OK, we know it's not exactly breaking news that Pat Buchanan holds some views that are borderline racist, to put it mildly. But this one is just too blatant to pass up.

In his latest column for Human Events -- a forum he often uses to air opinions that wouldn't fly during his regular gigs as a commentator on MSNBC -- Buchanan writes that he "prefers the old bigotry" to the Ivy League affirmative action policies that may have benefited Sonia Sotomayor, because "at least it was honest."

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Topics: Media, Racism, Right-wing extremism

Racism

Latest Right-Wing Meme: Von Brunn's A Lefty

Zachary Roth | June 11, 2009, 4:19PM

It's hardly been 24 hours since James Von Brunn allegedly walked into the Holocaust Museum and shot museum guard Stephen Johns. But already conservatives from Rush Limbaugh to Red State have started advancing their latest up-is-down meme: Von Brunn -- a white supremacist consumed by hatred of Jews and blacks, who has called for President Obama to release his birth certificate -- isn't really a right-winger -- in fact, he's a lefty.

Let's count off the examples:

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Topics: Media, Racism, Right-wing extremism

Racism

Von Brunn Promoted Work Of Legendary Anti-Semite

Zachary Roth | June 10, 2009, 4:05PM

It looks like James Von Brunn tried to use Wikipedia to promote the work of Willis Carto, the right-wing Holocaust denier and founder of the Liberty Lobby.

Just last month, a Wikipedia user James Von Brunn asked the site's adminstrators:

How do I get user: James W. von Brunn on Wikipedia website. Also I have a letter from Professor Revilo Oliver pertaining to Willis Carto that I want to attach. ???????"

According to his Wikipedia page, Carto has been accused by some observers of doing more than just about anyone to keep anti-Semitism alive as a political movement in the US during the 50s, 60s, and 70s.

Late Update: The Southern Poverty Law Center, which says it added Van Brunn's website as a hate site last year, adds:

In the 1980s or early 1990s, von Brunn was employed by Noontide Press, a part of the Holocaust denying Institute of Historical Review, which was then run by Willis Carto, one of America's most prominent anti-Semites.

So Von Brunn's ties to Carto appear to go far deeper.

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Topics: Holocaust Museum shooting, James von Brunn, Racism, Right-wing extremism

Financial Crisis

Lawsuit: Wells Fargo Targeted Blacks For Subprime Loans

Zachary Roth | June 9, 2009, 5:08PM

In the wake of the subprime mortgage crisis, the unsavory and sometimes illegal business practices of the mortgage lenders at the vanguard of the subprime trend have slowly been coming to light. But new claims in a lawsuit filed against Wells Fargo by the city of Baltimore -- and reported in the last week by the Baltimore Sun and New York Times -- are pretty shocking nonetheless.

The suit accuses Wells Fargo of using a range of deceptive practices to push high-interest, subprime loans onto African-Americans in Baltimore and the Maryland suburbs, leading hundreds into foreclosure. The claims come largely from two former Wells Fargo loan officers, who submitted signed affidavits filed last week.

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Topics: Financial Crisis, Racism, Wells Fargo

Media

Buchanan: Nicaraguan Leader Is "Scrub Stock"

Zachary Roth | April 24, 2009, 2:50PM

For the last decade or so, Washington has indulged Pat Buchanan as a sort of crazy political uncle. Everyone, it seems, has agreed to forget about his long track record of racially questionable commentary and writing, and to look kindly on his continued nativist leanings, because he's an entertaining and surprisingly insightful TV performer, and it's fun to watch him argue with Rachel Maddow.

But every now and then, the centrality to Buchanan's worldview of racial difference rises to the surface. In addition to his frequent MSNBC appearances, where he plays a mostly well-mannered, if hardline, conservative, Buchanan also writes a column for the far-right web magazine, Human Events. And that's where he gets himself into trouble.

His most recent effort, "The Rooted and The Rootless," takes as its premise the notion that there's a "blood-and-soil, family-and-faith, God-and-country kind of nation" that's competing with a minority represented by the "rootless" Obama and his "aides with advanced degrees from elite colleges who react just like him."