Family Feud: The Best Healthcare Debate on Television

Written by Jeremy Jacobs on August 12, 2009, 12:02 PM

When one brother yells at another during a live TV interview to spell his name correctly when he reports it to the "White House snitch campaign,” you know the healthcare debate has reached a new level.

That's what happened on Tuesday when Brad and Dallas Woodhouse squared off over healthcare reform on CNN's "American Morning." Brad is the communications director at the Democratic National Committee while Dallas is an organizer for Americans for Prosperity, which runs one of the largest campaigns opposing President Obama's healthcare reform plans.

Brad got the first jab in, saying that his brother’s group and other right wing groups are spreading misinformation and inciting protesters at townhall meetings across the country with "crazy charges."

Dallas was ready to swing back, and swung back hard. "It is simple that the president is loosing this debate," he said. "They are losing this debate because people are reading the bill...They do not want a Washington bureaucrat in the exam room with them and their doctor."

Then, what started out as a substantive debate quickly went elsewhere.

"And by the way, Brad," Dallas said, "when you report me to the White House snitch campaign, please make sure my name is spelled right. It's Dallas like the city, last name: Woodhouse."

Brad, who formerly led Americans United for Change, tried a move that almost every brother has used: He threatened to take his ball and go home.

"You can't have an honest debate with folks like my brother on this issue," he said. "I mean no one has proposed, the president has been the last person to propose a government take over of healthcare."

But Dallas was ready with more. When asked if he liked his brother, Dallas responded:

"We're very close. I love my brother to death. He is one of the best partisan, political hacks in America and he wouldn't be at the White House and he wouldn't be invited over to cocktails if he weren't very good at what he does. I'm just a little simple community organizer like the president used to be in North Carolina, and I just go around defending tax payers."

Jeremy P. Jacobs is the staff writer for Politics magazine. He can be reached at jjacobs@politicsmagazine.com.