S.C. Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer Compares Helping Poor to Feeding Stray Animals

From the AP

South Carolina Lt. Governor Andre Bauer, who hopes to succeed fellow
Republican Mark Sanford as his state's governor, drew a comparison
between government help for poor people and "feeding stray animals" –
who, he noted, "breed."

"My grandmother was not a highly educated woman, but she told me as a
small child to quit feeding stray animals," Bauer said during a town
hall meeting, as the Greenville News reported over the weekend. "You
know why? Because they breed. You're facilitating the problem if you
give an animal or a person ample food supply. They will reproduce,
especially ones that don't think too much further than that. And so what
you've got to do is you've got to curtail that type of behavior. They
don't know any better."

As the Greenville News notes, more than half of the students in South
Carolina participate in a program that allows them to get their lunch
for free, or at a reduced cost.

Bauer later said he wasn't saying those who receive government help
"were animals or anything else."

He added that his metaphor was taken out of context, WSOCTV reports, and
added that "maybe the stray animals wasn't the best metaphor."

Bauer made the comment as part of an argument that people should lose
government benefits if they fail drug tests or don't attend
parent-teacher conferences or PTA meetings.

"Look folks, if you receive goods or services from the government and
you don't attend a parent-teacher conference, bam, you lose your
benefits," he said. In a follow-up story, the Greenville News reports
that Bauer said "he would penalize only adults and that he never
advocated taking away a child's free or reduced-price lunch. His speech
was about breaking the cycle of dependence on government aid, he said."

During the town hall meeting, Bauer said he "can show you a bar graph
where free and reduced lunch has the worst test scores in the state of
South Carolina." He added: "So how do you fix it? Well you say, 'Look,
if you receive goods or services from the government, then you owe
something back.'"

South Carolina Democrats responded harshly to the comments, and there
were calls for Bauer to apologize and to drop his gubernatorial bid.
Some in his own party were also critical, with Republican state Rep.
Harry Cato saying Bauer "has gone overboard."

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Gosh, the piece of **** lieutenant gov in South Carolina sounds just
like the South Carolina boater who posts here...

Nice state.