Not Dr. David McKalip.
You may remember him as the St. Petersburg doctor who emailed out a photoshopped picture of Barack Obama depicted as a witch doctor. As president-elect of the Pinellas Medical Association and a prominent opponent of the President’s health care plan, McKalip was rightfully shamed for distributing the racially-insensitive picture of Obama. After the story became a national dust-up, McKalip deservedly needed to be exiled, err, go on a vacation. So he packed up the family truckster and headed to Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming.
But it seems Dr. McKalip is a man who takes his politics with him on vacation.
While on vacation last week, McKalip broke camp and headed to Montana — Montana! as in an entirely different state and not in the New York to Hartford, just take the Metro North sense — for one of those brownshirt TEA Parties. Here is a first-hand account of McKalip at the Bozeman Tea Party:
“When our volunteer fire truck was set up with our loud PA system and put into position, we overwhelmed them and the battle was pretty much over. The fire truck was the perfect platform. I climbed on top and began our program welcoming our supporters to America’s Second Revolution. We kicked into high gear and pumped up the crowd. Tammy Hall also got it going. One guy, whom we never met before, Dr. David McKalip, a Florida-based neurosurgeon, took time from his Yellowstone Park vacation with his family and joined us when he heard about our rally. He gave a great speech. Dr. McKalip spoke about the need for accessible and affordable high-quality health care free from government intervention and the need to empower patients with the financial and decision-making power taking it from government and insurance companies.”
There are so many angles to this story, I am about to trip over my own words. But it basically boils down to this: This dude leaves Yellowstone National Park to go to Bozeman, Montana, for a TEA Party three weeks after said dude is run out on a rail from public life.
Update: You can listen to an audio file of McKalip in Bozeman here.
