His name is Scott Van Duzer. He lives in Florida and owns the Big Apple Pizza and Pasta Italian Restaurant. He's a big man with a big heart. So when President Obama unexpectedly dropped by, this was Mr. Van Duzer's reaction
As reported in the Greenfield, Indiana, Daily Reporter -
Of his embrace, Van Duzer said: "I was overwhelmed when I saw him."
He said Obama had his vote.
The president chose the restaurant because Mr. Van Duzer, a Republican who voted for Mr. Obama in 2008 and plans to do so again, has received commendations from the White House for promoting blood donations.
"The guy's just got a big heart along with big pecs," Mr. Obama said.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/...
Mr. Van Duzer is far from the only Republican supporting President Obama.
There's Doug Stern, a firefighter from Ohio who was a life long Republican. He spoke at the Democratic National Convention. He's supporting President Obama because, unlike the Republican Party, the President "has my back" and "still believes that public service is an honorable profession." He calls out "right wing extremists" and the "vilification of those who work for a living."
There are Republicans for Obama.
Republicans for Obama is a grassroots organization of proud party members who all share one important trait— we are Americans first and Republicans second.
Founded in late 2006 as part of the nationwide effort to encourage then-Senator Obama to run for the Presidency, our volunteer-run, grassroots group now includes thousands of members from across the nation. Together, we represent a cross-section of the millions of Republican and conservative independents who support President Obama's reelection in 2012.
Although we have campaigned, worked for, and voted Republican all our lives, we recognize that President Obama is the right leader for our country at this time. Our current Republican leadership is unable to stand up to the most extreme elements in our party, no matter the circumstance. Meanwhile, President Obama has challenged his own party on numerous issues, including taxes, healthcare and foreign policy. President Obama has forged a pragmatic, common-sense path forward during a challenging time.
President Obama has rejected the politics of division and the win-at-all-costs attitude that has hurt our ability to move forward as a nation. While we as Republicans will not always see eye to eye with President Obama, we know that his politics of unity is the only way forward for America.
-Republicans for Obama
And of course the wonderful ladies.
We are all - Democrats, Republicans, and Independents - working together to re-elect the man who in 2004 said this.
For alongside our famous individualism, there's another ingredient in the American saga, a belief that we are all connected as one people.
If there's a child on the south side of Chicago who can't read, that matters to me, even if it's not my child.
If there's a senior citizen somewhere who can't pay for their prescription and having to choose between medicine and the rent, that makes my life poorer, even if it's not my grandparent.
If there's an Arab-American family being rounded up without benefit of an attorney or due process, that threatens my civil liberties.
It is that fundamental belief -- it is that fundamental belief -- I am my brother's keeper, I am my sisters' keeper -- that makes this country work.
It's what allows us to pursue our individual dreams, yet still come together as a single American family: "E pluribus unum," out of many, one.
Now even as we speak, there are those who are preparing to divide us, the spin masters and negative ad peddlers who embrace the politics of anything goes.
Well, I say to them tonight, there's not a liberal America and a conservative America; there's the United States of America.
There's not a black America and white America and Latino America and Asian America; there's the United States of America.
The pundits, the pundits like to slice and dice our country into red states and blue States: red states for Republicans, blue States for Democrats. But I've got news for them, too. We worship an awesome God in the blue states, and we don't like federal agents poking around our libraries in the red states.
We coach little league in the blue states and, yes, we've got some gay friends in the red states.
There are patriots who opposed the war in Iraq, and there are patriots who supported the war in Iraq.
We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States of America.
In the end, that's what this election is about. Do we participate in a politics of cynicism, or do we participate in a politics of hope?
We chose hope in 2008. We are choosing to continue that journey in 2012. All of us - Democrat, Republican, Independent - are working together. Side by side, we can overcome anything, dare everything, and rise up together. We're the American Family. It is what we do.
After all, we are the people our President believes in.