Food Fight Over Health Care

This is a rush transcript from "On the Record," August 19, 2009. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, FOX NEWS HOST: Well, wait until you hear this. It is on Facebook, 18,000 people on Facebook are calling for a boycott of the nationwide grocery store chain Whole Foods. It has to do with the debate over health care.

Now, apparently, the CEO of Whole Foods who says we do need health care reform is not as liberal as some of his progressive clientele. Joining us live is FBN anchor Brian Sullivan. He hosts the 10:00 a.m. hour on FOX Business Network.

Brian, tell me a little bit about this CEO and what is going on with Facebook.

BRIAN SULLIVAN, FOX BUSINESS NETWORK: The irony of this story, Greta, is that if John Mackey, who is the CEO of Whole Food who has been running the company, started the company in Austin Texas about 30 years ago, if he had positioned what he positioned in "The Journal" when we were not considering health care, this would have been considered radical reform.

He said here are eight ideas as a successful CEO that I have, including tort reform, allowing insurers cross state lines, self-directed ideas. And yet he is vilified by some of the more liberal followers out there of the president's plan.

They are, as you said, waging war against Whole Foods, 18,000 on Facebook in a boycott. There is Web page set up. And they are calling him, get this, Greta, a right-wing zealot.

VAN SUSTEREN: This CEO of Whole Foods, in 2007, he said he had enough money to live comfortably, so in 2007 he cut his salary down to $1 a year, and he donated all of the proceeds from his stock option to charity.

This does not sound like a guy who wants to stick it to the poor when it comes to health care. He had a different idea, and that was what was in the "Wall Street Journal."

SULLIVAN: He is a self-described libertarian. And I do not know if that was angered some people. Not only was he taking $1, but he pushed this through, Greta, a $100,000 need-based fund for Whole Foods workers.

They offer domestic partners same sex benefits at Whole Foods. Heretofore this has been considered a relatively progressive company. Now he comes out and says the government-run plan is not the way to go. And he is absolutely being slaughtered on the left side of the blogosphere.

VAN SUSTEREN: I do not know this guy, and I don't know if his ideas are good, but there is something to be admired about someone who sees a problem and says here are eight really good ideas, or he thinks they are really good ideas. He actually posts the good ideas.

And then for having to dare to differ with a particular segment, they come out and try to kill his business, a business that has employed lots of people, and, from what I can read, he seems like a pretty generous guy.

SULLIVAN: I wrote a blog on the FOX Business Web site called "Free speech may not be so free for Whole Foods." They hired 8,200 people last year. They have 50,000 employees.

Let us say that this boycott gains some traction. Let us say that it does. And let us say that it is successful by the boycotters' definition. Who is going to get hurt? Is John Mackey going to get hurt? No. As he said, he has enough money.

The workers, the rank and file of Whole Foods are the ones who are going to get hurt.

You made an excellent point in your interview with Rick Santorum moment ago that it's not as if you don't want health care reform. It's if you don't necessarily agree with the president's plan you might be labeled wrong or a bad person.

VAN SUSTEREN: I'd like to see the president or some big leader come out and say something on behalf of Mackey. If 18,000 people are trying to run up this boycott on this business and there are so many people across the country who need jobs, I would like to have somebody come out to say, "You know, this Mackey guy has run a good business and has been generous. Go boycott somebody who is a rat, but this is not the guy."

I do not know if I agree with Mackey's program, but this makes me want to go to his grocery store.

SULLIVAN: And even if don't agree with him. We interview CEO's all day long at FBN. None of them take a stand on anything. If you press them on this kind of an issue, they song and dance because they do not want to ruffle feathers.

He had the guts to come out and make a stand, offer some suggestions, and he is being slaughtered for it. Hopefully there are enough people watching right now that may say, hey, maybe we do not like Mackey, but he had the guts to do this, and maybe we'll counter the boycott.

VAN SUSTEREN: And he employs thousands of people. So I propose a reverse boycott. Everyone go to Whole Foods tomorrow.

Brian, thank you.

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