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Scott Van Duzer, the Obama hugger: Shop facing boycott
Politico ^ | 9/10/12 3:36 PM EDT | KEVIN CIRILLI

Posted on 09/10/2012 5:44:13 PM PDT by null and void

The owner says he also thinks Paul Ryan would lose to the president in a workout battle.

The owner of a Florida pizza shop says people are boycotting his business because he bear-hugged President Barack Obama on Sunday.

“People are saying a lot of bad things and boycotting my restaurant,” Scott Van Duzer, 46, told POLITICO. “There’s no middle line anymore, and that’s exactly what’s wrong with our country right now.”

The owner of Big Apple Pizza & Pasta Restaurant in Fort Pierce, Fla., said that both Democrats and Republicans are welcome in his store. But he also said he thinks Mitt Romney’s running mate Rep. Paul Ryan — whose sculpted abs are thanks to intense P90X training sessions — would lose to the president in a workout battle.

“I think Obama could take him,” Van Duzer said, laughing. “Obama looked pretty fast and pretty quick on his feet.”

So is Van Duzer. For a guy who biked 1,148 miles in 31 days from Florida to Washington D.C., lifting Obama was a piece of cake — err, a slice of pizza. And Van Duzer says he wasn’t even warmed up.

“I don’t work out that much, man. Usually, it’s about two days per week. The bike ride was my big thing,” Van Duzer said. “I’m starting to go back to the gym right now. I need to start maintaining.”

Van Duzer’s June bike-trek was part of his Van Duzer Foundation, and helped raise awareness for blood donation shortages. Founded in 2008 to support a local firefighter whose house burned down, the foundation has since raised more than $600,000, Van Duzer said. Van Duzer said he rode with a few kids from the Boys and Girls Club and met with U.S. Surgeon General Regina M. Benjamin to discuss blood shortages.

Obama told The New York Times that Van Duzer’s effort in promoting blood donations was part of the reason the campaign decided to visit his pizza shop.

“One of the reasons that we wanted to stop by is that Scott has been doing unbelievable work out of this pizza shop in promoting the importance of donating blood,” Obama told the Times. “And so he has set some records here in Florida. He has received commendations from the White House, the surgeon general, he has galvanized and mobilized the local community and he’s educating kids and folks all across the country on this issue.”

Inside the shop Sunday, Obama wanted to know how to look like Van Duzer.

“Everybody look at these guns,” Obama said. “If I eat your pizza, will I look like that?”

Van Duzer told POLITICO that he packs on protein with his homemade pepperoni pizza. And the 6-foot-3-inch, 260-pound Van Duzer says he bench presses 350 pounds at six reps, usually twice a week — nearly double the estimated 176 pounds that Obama weighs.

“When I was in peak condition, I lifted five times a week,” he said. “But that was before my injury.”

He tore his Achilles tendon during an “intense” charity dodgeball game. Mainly, he says his active, energetic lifestyle keeps him fit.

“I move around a lot,” he said.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; US: Florida
KEYWORDS: duplicate
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Who do these eeeeeeeeeeevil conservatives think his guy is Chick-fil-A?
1 posted on 09/10/2012 5:44:19 PM PDT by null and void
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To: null and void

Ha Ha FO Zero lover.


2 posted on 09/10/2012 5:46:47 PM PDT by ImJustAnotherOkie (zerogottago)
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To: null and void

He didn’t build it anyway.


3 posted on 09/10/2012 5:47:13 PM PDT by FoxInSocks ("Hope is not a course of action." -- M. O'Neal, USMC)
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To: null and void

Spread your message to the homos that protested Chick a filet.


4 posted on 09/10/2012 5:51:57 PM PDT by double_down
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To: null and void
“There’s no middle line anymore, and that’s exactly what’s wrong with our country right now.”

Boy, this guy's got some nerve.

Tell that to your progressive thug pal Bozo...

5 posted on 09/10/2012 5:52:08 PM PDT by THX 1138 ("Harry, I have a gift.")
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To: null and void

two communists hugging and people should order a pizza? Did he clear the crap with moochelle?


6 posted on 09/10/2012 5:52:47 PM PDT by biggredd1
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To: FoxInSocks

What it feels like to be a conservative business man. Buck up little cowboy. Obama is working on your grant for solar energy ovens.


7 posted on 09/10/2012 5:52:55 PM PDT by stocksthatgoup (Wealth = Net Worth Income = Net Work)
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To: null and void
Wow....Florida has some real winners....Imagine if the guy broke a rib...he'd be in prison for life.

Our Prez is a bozo....

8 posted on 09/10/2012 5:54:26 PM PDT by Sacajaweau
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To: All
“People are saying a lot of bad things and boycotting my restaurant,” Scott Van Duzer, 46, told POLITICO

My gaydar just hit the peg ... not that there's anything wrong with that.

9 posted on 09/10/2012 5:54:51 PM PDT by SamKeck
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To: null and void

I think he made up the boycott thing to gain sympathy


10 posted on 09/10/2012 5:55:14 PM PDT by GeronL (The Right to Life came before the Right to Pursue Happiness)
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To: null and void

“What the media forgot to mention is that Scott Van Duzer reportedly visited the White House in June.”


11 posted on 09/10/2012 5:59:05 PM PDT by wolficatZ ("We are no longer accepting comments on this article")
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To: GeronL

I think he made up the boycott thing to gain sympathy

He tore his Achilles tendon during an “intense” charity dodgeball game.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
On my local NBC news last night they made it a point to mention he was a registered Republican but ‘liked’ BO.

Also, see where that NASTY dodge ball was cause of his injury.


12 posted on 09/10/2012 6:00:24 PM PDT by xrmusn (6/98 "It is virtually impossible to clean the pond as long as the pigs are still crapping in it")
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To: null and void
He thinks Obama is a champion and there is something wrong w/our country...

I think it's vice versa.

13 posted on 09/10/2012 6:00:32 PM PDT by alecqss
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To: GeronL

I think he made up the boycott thing to gain sympathy

He tore his Achilles tendon during an “intense” charity dodgeball game.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
On my local NBC news last night they made it a point to mention he was a registered Republican but ‘liked’ BO.

Also, see where that NASTY dodge ball was cause of his injury.


14 posted on 09/10/2012 6:00:42 PM PDT by xrmusn (6/98 "It is virtually impossible to clean the pond as long as the pigs are still crapping in it")
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To: Sacajaweau
If he had, I'd buy his damned pizza!
15 posted on 09/10/2012 6:00:58 PM PDT by null and void (Day 1330 of our ObamaVacation from reality - Obama, a queer and present danger)
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To: null and void
I travel by his place for work. I will watch to see if he closes down ...I won't be stopping in. He put himself out there for the critics, I guess.
16 posted on 09/10/2012 6:03:12 PM PDT by Christie at the beach (I like Newt.)
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To: null and void

I hope he embraces his hefty new taxes just as much! ;-)


17 posted on 09/10/2012 6:05:01 PM PDT by Average Al (The Democrat party is a free range zoo.)
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To: xrmusn

bump

he is as much a Republican as Charlie Crist and Specter


18 posted on 09/10/2012 6:05:22 PM PDT by GeronL (The Right to Life came before the Right to Pursue Happiness)
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To: null and void
duzer
19 posted on 09/10/2012 6:05:22 PM PDT by A.A. Cunningham (Barry Soetoro is a Kenyan communist)
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To: null and void

I would have boycotted him just for naming his company “Big Apple”.


20 posted on 09/10/2012 6:05:33 PM PDT by OrangeHoof (Our economy won't heal until one particular black man is unemployed.)
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