f/u pizza-Obama-hugger-guy facing boycott

[mominatrix]

^o)
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Scott Van Duzer, the Obama hugger: Shop facing boycott

By KEVIN CIRILLI | 9/10/12 3:36 PM EDT

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.



Read more: www.politico.com/news/stories/0912/80998.html#ixzz26ApJZTuI

[marie427]

Ugh. That's really all I can muster at the moment.

[josieposy]

Hey now what about supporting small business?

[zelda25]

*waits for the first person to say, "hey, if it was ok to boycott chik-fil-a..."*

[ttt]

Knowing what I do about that area, this doesn't surprise me.

[Deleted]

I also saw something about how people are posting negative reviews of his place on Yelp since he hugged the POTUS.


www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-obama-van-duzer-yelp-20120911,0,2764080.story

Keep it classy, folks. Keep it classy.

(And yes, Zelda, I'm wating for it too. Because being excited that the President of the United States stopped in your restaurant is totes like donating money to anti-gay hate groups. TOTES!)

Edited to add link...

[msmerymac]

I love this pizza guy more and more.

Didn't we have a conversation a while back about whether or not you'd go to see the President if you had a chance? The country is so politicized that people who are of the "other" party have no respect for the office anymore.

[secretlyevil]

If this place wasn't so far away, I'd go buy a couple of pizzas from the guy.

[tlkdhk]

Dang..... I won't try to mess with Republicans. I drove by Chick Fil A 2 Thursdays ago at 8:45pm and the parking lot was full with at least 4-5 cars in the drive through line.

The Crumb and Get It Cupcake shop has done gangbusters since respectfully declining a visit from the Biden camp. Yikes....

[OscarQ]

Sept 11, 2012 11:21:57 GMT -5 secretlyevil said:

If this place wasn't so far away, I'd go buy a couple of pizzas from the guy.

You could call in an order and have it sent to a hospital or nursing home - or to one of the campaigns (ha). I'm thinking about doing it. This guy sounds pretty awesome and like the type of business I want to support.

[meshaliuknits]

Sept 11, 2012 10:48:10 GMT -5 @writergal49 said:

I also saw something about how people are posting negative reviews of his place on Yelp since he hugged the POTUS.


www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-obama-van-duzer-yelp-20120911,0,2764080.story

Keep it classy, folks. Keep it classy.

That's goddamnridiculous. Patronize, don't patronize, but don't give the dude negative reviews that he didn't earn just because you don't like his politics.

[heightsyankee]

FFS

[ttt]

Sept 11, 2012 11:51:56 GMT -5 OscarQ said:

Sept 11, 2012 11:21:57 GMT -5 secretlyevil said:

If this place wasn't so far away, I'd go buy a couple of pizzas from the guy.

You could call in an order and have it sent to a hospital or nursing home - or to one of the campaigns (ha). I'm thinking about doing it. This guy sounds pretty awesome and like the type of business I want to support.

This is a great idea!

[emisi]

There ought to be a way to report obvious troll reviews to Yelp. Sadly, there is not.

[penguingrrl]

That's ridiculous. Just because he welcomed the President into his business. I'm very much not a fan of GWB, but I would still be respectful if I actually saw him in person because it's a big deal. I judge people who are so hung up on their beliefs that they can't even be respectful to the other side. That's disgusting!

[tlkdhk]

Sept 11, 2012 16:39:43 GMT -5 penguingrrl said:

I judge people who are so hung up on their beliefs that they can't even be respectful to the other side. That's disgusting!

So you judge the judgmental?

[penguingrrl]

Sept 11, 2012 21:38:14 GMT -5 tlkdhk said:

Sept 11, 2012 16:39:43 GMT -5 penguingrrl said:

I judge people who are so hung up on their beliefs that they can't even be respectful to the other side. That's disgusting!

So you judge the judgmental?

Yes. I don't judge much and am generally live and let live. But someone who is so opposed to those who believe differently than them that they can't be respectful are among the few I do judge.

[robin]

Where are all the Chick fil A supporters who went all in the name of "free speech?"

[tlkdhk]

Sept 11, 2012 22:17:14 GMT -5 penguingrrl said:

Yes. I don't judge much and am generally live and let live. But someone who is so opposed to those who believe differently than them that they can't be respectful are among the few I do judge.

Doesn't that kind of put you on the same level as them? Or are there different levels and rightness/wrongness of judging? Ok, now I think I need a philosophy course...

[tlkdhk]

Sept 12, 2012 7:04:00 GMT -5 robin said:

Where are all the Chick fil A supporters who went all in the name of "free speech?"

Apparently they are still eating at Chick Fil A. There is no Chick Fil A near me but I was at an amusement park a couple Thursday ago. We left at 8:45pm and the Chick Fil A parking lot was mobbed with 4-5 cars waiting in the drive through. I was surprised. I sort of assumed the madness wore off but I'm guessing not.

[msmerymac]

Sept 12, 2012 12:41:34 GMT -5 tlkdhk said:

Sept 12, 2012 7:04:00 GMT -5 robin said:

Where are all the Chick fil A supporters who went all in the name of "free speech?"

Apparently they are still eating at Chick Fil A. There is no Chick Fil A near me but I was at an amusement park a couple Thursday ago. We left at 8:45pm and the Chick Fil A parking lot was mobbed with 4-5 cars waiting in the drive through. I was surprised. I sort of assumed the madness wore off but I'm guessing not.

The Chick-Fil-A near me has been like that since the day they opened. Not because of the counter-protest or whatever.

[mominatrix]

Sept 12, 2012 12:41:34 GMT -5 nuggetbrain said:

Sept 12, 2012 12:39:50 GMT -5 tlkdhk said:

Doesn't that kind of put you on the same level as them? Or are there different levels and rightness/wrongness of judging? Ok, now I think I need a philosophy course...

*side-eye* I don't know what you're going for here, but hell yes I judge people who are boycotting a small business owner because he bear-hugged the President when their party is supposedly all about supporting small business owners.

...and not just staying away, but writing lies about the business on Yelp (and, I'm sure, other review sites) in an effort to keep other people away.

Way to support small businesses.

[ttt]

Sept 12, 2012 12:39:50 GMT -5 tlkdhk said:

Sept 11, 2012 22:17:14 GMT -5 penguingrrl said:

Yes. I don't judge much and am generally live and let live. But someone who is so opposed to those who believe differently than them that they can't be respectful are among the few I do judge.

Doesn't that kind of put you on the same level as them? Or are there different levels and rightness/wrongness of judging? Ok, now I think I need a philosophy course...

Is judging necessarily a bad thing? What kind of a society would we be if we had no judging at all and everybody was free to do whatever they wanted without anyone ever thinking less of them?

I judge people who are cruel to animals, for example, and I think that's a good thing.

[tlkdhk]

Sept 12, 2012 12:41:34 GMT -5 nuggetbrain said:

Sept 12, 2012 12:39:50 GMT -5 tlkdhk said:

Doesn't that kind of put you on the same level as them? Or are there different levels and rightness/wrongness of judging? Ok, now I think I need a philosophy course...

*side-eye* I don't know what you're going for here, but hell yes I judge people who are boycotting a small business owner because he bear-hugged the President when their party is supposedly all about supporting small business owners.

Uhm, *side-eye*? Okay. Wow.

Personally, it seems to me that this kind of attention *should* backfire and help the guy. It did for Chick Fil A and it did for the Crumb and Get it Shop. *That's* what I am getting at. If people really think the response to this guy from (presumptively) Republicans is so awful, shouldn't the Obama supporters be in there to make sure his business thrives? That's what people here are talking about doing (which I think is a great idea). Has anyone called and sent a pizza to a hospital or nursing home or whatever?

Yelp does filter reviews. I once posted a negative review of a local business. I gave the specific example of why I was upset and how the owner blew me off but Yelp still filtered it out. I went back into my Yelp account to figure out why and it basically assumed I was trolling to give a bad review to a competitor which was definitely not the case.