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An interesting, if mildly depressing, exchange on Obamacare.

By: Moe Lane (Diary)  |  January 18th, 2013 at 09:00 PM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

Goodness gracious, but check this out. Background: Whole Foods CEO John Mackey called Obamacare first ‘socialist,’ then ‘fascist,’ then regretted calling it fascist because the Left is generally too ill-educated to understand the difference between National Socialism and economic fascism* -so they were thus all getting hung up in their own ignorance, and thus omitting to address Mackey’s point. Cue CNN Carol Costello, who gave a stunning demonstration of same.

So, once Mackey had dumbed it down again for the nice talking head, we get this exchange:

Costello then asked, “But why inject yourself into the debate over ObamaCare in the first place?”

Mackey responded that he provides health insurance for 73,000 Whole Foods employees and some provisions of Obama’s health care law will raise his company’s costs. “It’s making it more difficult to provide the insurance at affordable rates to our team members, so I’m trying to protect them as well as I can,” he said.

“I think, though, that many of your customers probably wouldn’t agree with you since, I don’t know, you kind of run a store that appeals to the more liberal in America in some ways,” Costello replied.

“I don’t understand what your question or your point is,” Mackey said.

I suspect that Mackey was being nice. The question was Why are you publicly disagreeing with your customers on a political issue? and the point was HERETIC! UNBELIEVER! Which Mackey almost certainly knew, although I’m not sure that Carol Costello did.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

*Short version: you don’t actually need to be xenophobic genocidal racists in order to have an economic system where the government controls all the businesses. Although I would be the first to admit that anti-Semitism seems to flourish under this kind of state-controlled economic policy…

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  • checkmate2012

    Does anyone watch CNN? And while EE’s post was on nostalgia it turned into a ACA debate yet here’s a post on the actual subject of O’care. I did see the interview with Mackey on Greta last night and I’d have to agree with him and that Costello is beyond clueless along with all the other “hosts” on CNN. It’s a worthless network.

  • joshinca

    The retraction written by Mackey is a classic non apology – apology.

    He’s a great businessman that realized that his comments had pissed off a large segment of his customer base and so quickly ‘refined’ his comment to assuage their anger.

    Actually, it’s yet another example of why markets are superior to political action.

  • http://travismonitor.blogspot.com Freedoms Truth

    “Why are you publicly disagreeing with your customers on a political issue?”

    I think it was a veiled threat, a la the attacks on Chick Fil A for daring to favor traditional-marriage-supporting organizations.

    “But why inject yourself into the debate over ObamaCare in the first place?”

    This is definitely a clueless question … INSTEAD of doing a straightup interview with “So, how will this law affect you, your company and your employees?” … its a politically motivated … “Which side are you on, the heretics or the good people? Why question the Great OZ-bama?”

    And btw a fine retort to ““I think, though, that many of your customers probably wouldn’t agree with you” … might be:

    “We respect and cater to our customers, but in the end we also have to care for our employees and this law is hurting our ability to hire, retain and provide the right benefits to employees. Customers dont see that side of thing unless they are in a hiring situation themselves, but they might agree with our view if they are being denied the kinds of healthcare choices we are forced to deny our employees because of ACA.”

  • gscandlen

    Yeah, it is interesting that for people on the Left EVERYTHING is politics. Whatever it might be they look for the political implications. They care less about whether food tastes good than whether it advances their political agenda. Same with clothing, housing, transportation, music. This kind of world view is incomprehensible to me — and frightening.

  • tngal

    “Why inject yourself into the debate” ? Why not? He’s an employer, he has every right to inject himself. What the hell kinda stupid question is that? And — how could Costello surmise “…that many of your customers probably wouldn’t agree with you”. Did Costello do a survey?

  • WmCraig

    It does help, if you think about it when everybody is identified by their association to a particular group. Conservatives, for example. And by being pigeon holed into particular group your behavior can be monitored. Whole foods products appeal to those caged in the liberal pigeon hole. The risk of course is that being seen as going into a whole food store could identify you as a turn coat, or “sympathizer” (using the words the Bull Conner era segregationist preferred) and being a sympathizer meant that you put at risk every other member of your group. This segregating people by their dominant characteristic isn’t just about knowing which group to hate, it is also about keeping the members of your own group from straying from the pack.

    Papers please?

  • WmCraig

    Of course it is a threat. But it cuts both ways. It is going to cost the customer’s a lot more money. The customers will have to pay more for food, and everything else, while at the same time bring home less to spend because their own insurance will cost more.

  • runner12

    I knew there was a reason I loved Whole Foods, and not just for their yummy food! I know it would absolutely shock that joke of a reporter Costello that many Conservatives not only shop at Whole Foods, but prefer organic food and exercise regularly. But trying to stop a Leftist from judging others or caricaturing a group of people is a lost cause.

  • http://boldcolor.blogspot.com/ Paula Bolyard

    They would have saved a lot of time if she had simply asked, “Are you now or have you ever been a Capitalist? Followed by, “Are you now or have you ever expressed any concerns about the radical homosexual agenda? And finally, “Do you now or have you ever sold anything larger than a 16 oz soda in your store?” If the answer to any of these questions is “yes,” CNN should immediately dispatch a troupe of trackers to follow him night and day to see what else he’s up to and they should also hire reams of investigators tasked with digging up any mischief he’s committed since the third grade.

    Last night I spent a 10 minutes reading the angry rants on the Whole Foods Facebook page (comments after their apology for using the “F” word. The major themes were: “You 1% ers make me sick!” “I thought you were one of us!” and “This is exactly the problem with Capitalism!” and then onto despair: “This is terrible!!! Where will I shop now????”

    Poor dear. There’s always WalMart.

    Clueless, low-information Whole Foods shoppers.

  • checkmate2012

    So I guess we can expect a boycott on WFoods…the remarks you relate are absolutely hilarious! I’m surprised CNN is so low in their ratings when in fact, the dumbo libs are one in the same: no inkling of cause and effect.
    .
    And Walmart has already been shunned by the libs except we know they’re closet shoppers…unlike the rest of us that like Wally World for their low prices. The duh crowd is growing exponentially and hopefully, they’ll just stay home, bunker down and watch CNN /MS and the inauguration in admiration of their chosen one that will ruin their livelihood. Another 4 years and maybe they’ll get a clue.