This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Oct. 28, 2009 - Jon Stewart's "The Daily Show" finally aired its segment on the Tea Party movement's "buycott" of Whole Foods, and the leadership role played by local conservative Gina Loudon.
Loudon, wife of former state Sen. John Loudon, gets only a few seconds of airtime in the 4-minute segment, which aired Tuesday night on the show, which runs on the Comedy Central cable channel.
She was interviewed off-camera for several hours earlier this month by Daily Show correspondent Wyatt Cenac, while conducting a buycott of a Whole Foods store in New Jersey. Loudon had led an earlier action here at a West County Whole Foods story.
But Gina Loudon said today that she was actually relieved by the brevity and tone of the segment. It pokes fun at how the buycott -- prompted by Whole Foods' chief executive John Mackey's public comments against the Democratic efforts to revamp health care coverage -- has shifted the attitudes of liberals and conservatives toward the organic food chain.
Conservatives are being encouraged to shop at the chain to show support for Mackey, while some liberals are staying away out of protest.
