Florida neurosurgeon David McKalip — who was in hot water last year after we published an email he sent that showed President Obama dressed as a witch doctor — will host an event for an African-American GOP candidate for Congress. The candidate says he didn’t find the witch doctor image offensive.
McKalip will co-host a fundraiser at a St. Petersburg sports bar next weekend for Eddie Adams Jr., who is seeking the GOP nomination to take on Rep. Kathy Castor (D-FL) this fall, reports the St. Petersburg Times.
Last year, TPMmuckraker published an email sent by McKalip, a prominent activist in the fight against health-care reform, to a list of Tea Party members. The email showed an image of President Obama dressed as a witch doctor — complete with feathers and a head-dress — over a caption saying: “ObamaCare: Coming Soon To A Clinic Near You.” Above the image, McKalip had written “funny stuff.”
Amid the ensuing furor, McKalip announced that he would temporarily take a back seat in the effort to fight health-care reform. He also stepped down as president of a local medical association, and as a delegate to the American Medical Association.
But Adams, himself a staunch opponent of reform, told TPMmuckraker that McKalip, a long-time friend, is no bigot. “Because he forwarded that email don’t make him prejudiced and make him a racist,” said Adams.
As a black man born in the south in the 1950s, “I know what real prejudice is,” Adams continued. “It’s not a media event. It’s a social thing.” Asked whether he found the image offensive, Adams said he did not.
Adams added that when McKalip had approached him to volunteer his support for Adams’s campaign, the doctor had offered to keep a low profile. “He said, Eddie, I can stay in the background, there is some controversy associated with me,'” said Adams. “I said: No, I’m not that kind of person…it has to do with honor, integrity, and service” — the motto of his campaign.
Adams is one of an unusually large number of black Republicans running for Congress this year. He was the GOP nominee in 2006 and 2008, and lost to Castor by wide margins both times.
