SC Lt. Gov: Poor Like ‘Stray Animals,’ Don’t Feed Them or ‘They Breed’
January 24, 2010
(ChattahBox)—Republican Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer of the bible-thumping state of South Carolina revealed his very special version of compassionate conservatism during a recent speech to his constituents, when he compared poor people on welfare to stray cats and dogs. Providing hungry people with an “ample food supply,” says Bauer only encourages the great unwashed of our society to breed more poor wretches whom the state is forced to feed. The genteel Southern gentleman is shocked that the poor on the dole have the bad taste to reproduce right under his nose, and he proposes that South Carolina “curtail that type of behavior,” by cutting off their food supply of government cheese and food stamps. Because after all, the poor, just like stray animals, can’t control their distasteful sexual urges. “They don’t know any better,” Bauer said.
Bauer is running for the Republican nomination for governor and he made his offensive comments during a town hall meeting. He proposed that residents receiving government assistance, like free school lunches, should be forced to take drug tests and attend PTA meetings and parent-teacher conferences and if they don’t: “bam, you lose your benefits,” said Bauer. He then explained his “stray animal” philosophy regarding the poor:
“My grandmother was not a highly educated woman, but she told me as a small child to quit feeding stray animals. 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,” Bauer said.
In South Carolina, 58 percent of students participate in the free and reduced-price lunch program.
Bauer went on to add that there should be “repercussions” for receiving state aid. “Look, if you receive goods or services from the government, then you owe something back,” he told the crowd of state lawmakers and about 100 constituents. The Republican Lt. Gov. drew on the offensive “Welfare Queen” and cultural wars rhetoric championed by the late Ronald Reagan. Bauer railed against “babies having babies” and the lazy good-for-nothings who stay home all day breeding. These people on Welfare “don’t have to do a thing,” said Bauer.
And of course these sneaky poor folks know how to game the system, because they keep reproducing to get more of that free government cash. “They can continue to have more and more kids, and the reward is there’s more and more money in it for them,” Bauer declared.
Bauer later made the argument that children receiving free school lunches do poorly in school:
“I can show you a bar graph where free and reduced lunch has the worst test scores in the state of South Carolina,” adding, “You show me the school that has the highest free and reduced lunch, and I’ll show you the worst test scores, folks. It’s there, period.”
After receiving criticism for his despicable and tin-eared comments, Bauer would only admit that his remarks were poorly worded. He then denied saying that poor people “were animals or anything else.” And in a later interview with The State newspaper, he held firm on his statements that feeding the poor encouraged dependence and he refused to apologize for his comments. Bauer said that his proposals to stop feeding the poor were borne “out of love and compassion.”
The compassionate conservative Andre Bauer, made his statements on the same day that the jobless rate in South Carolina reached 12.6 percent.
h/t Think Progress
Comments
16 Responses to “SC Lt. Gov: Poor Like ‘Stray Animals,’ Don’t Feed Them or ‘They Breed’”
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[...] the original post here: SC Lt. Gov: Poor Like 'Stray Animals,' Don't Feed Them or 'They … tags: bible, carolina, demanding-something, job-loss, jobless-rate, public-assistance, [...]
Why don’t we just “cull the herd” and shoot these lazy sons of #$^%$#^. Wouldn’t that be cheaper? Maybe if we built large ovens, we could even get rid of the leftovers? We could build large “work” camps and could brand them like cattle – to be more efficient of course. Then they wouldn’t be breeding and causing a drain on our economy.
Better yet, just kill them outright, huh, Andre Bauer? That would be a “final solution.”
Maybe its SC Republicans who shouldn’t be allowed to breed, based on what we’re hearing and seeing from You Lie Wilson, Mark Sanford and Jim DeMint.
Perhaps someone should stop feeding Lt. Governor Bauer or at the very least, stop voting for him!
Entitlements do need to be changed. Too many people in my state purposely stay just below the line to keep receiving benefits. From my observations over the years they do tend to have kids that do the same thing. They often don’t understand that it’s TAX PAYERS and not just “the man” who pays for all their things. Maybe a drug test and a time limit would help to give a lot of them a kick in the pants.
If he would only grow a toothbrush moustache, fund some incinerators…yup–it would be like the good old days, huh? The man is disgusting!
I whole-heartedly agree with drawing parallels between stray animals and those humans who are compounding the problem by reproducing. IF there is a god, and I do mean IF, then we are constantly undoing “his work” everytime we feed the over-populated hungry. A wonderful example is Haiti. Sorry folks, but , IF there is a “god” then it was “his work” to destroy the area and end the problem of hunger in that area. By sending countless millions of $$ to the region, all we are doing is propping them back up so that they can multiply until they are once again overrun without enough food to survive. Unless EVERY bleeding heart is willing to take a homeless family into their homes and nurture them, provide for them and teach them to become productive citizens, then I do not want to hear your whining and complaining about how Bauer is not compassionate or should not have spoken the truth. C’mon. This guy is a politician who SPOKE the TRUTH and you folks want to get all riled up about it! You would rather that he lie? Puhhhleeeease! If you believe in “god”, good for you. But, don’t forget that part about Noah, the Ark and a steady rain to wash off the garbage and start over.
Wow. Harry pretty much referred to people as garbage. He sounds like a top-notch human being.
Heil Harry!
Let’s do god’s work!
Ok “Harry” so u lose your job “god forbid” oh wait-maybe u don’t believe in Him OR you CAN’T work for some reason (or are you too good for that to happen) you are saying that we should just let you die? You said it. And now we should just let the hatians die? Ok well do you think, that where ever you live, that can’t happen? You will never need help??? Hmmmmm I hope you remember your comments when you are in need of help. It’s people like you that disgrace the human race.
THEY or THEM = anyone who thinks there getting something free without working for it. Not Black or White.
I wish he was in OHIO, I’d vote for him. We need to make people pay it back when they borrow it. Do you think a bank would keep giving YOU money if YOU wasn’t paying into there institution? Why shouldn’t they have to pay it back? THEY BORROWED IT! Nah let’s just keep giving it to them till it runs out and they start doing home invasions. Hope they come to my house, I’m ready to get rid of one.
i’d vote for him i work in a field where i see these people everyday and its true they take advantage of the system. i see them high drunk wasting there money on drugs not feeding there kids and having more just to get more cash.
Bible-thumping state of South Carolina? Anyone who spends a few seconds reading what the Bible says about the poor knows that no follower of it would say such a thing. I’m a Christian and I think that was a terrible thing for him to say.
I agree with him.
Feeding the non-working poor is a waste of money.
If they contribute nothing to society, then why should society contribute money and food to them?
Get a job, or no welfare.
I hear McDonald’s is hiring.
Do I agree with EVERYTHING that was said in this message…probably not. Do I agree with the message he is trying to send, ABSOLUTELY!
First of all CHRISSY: He is not referring to those that have “lost their jobs” or have suddenly found themselves unemployed, those are the type of people programs like this are trying to help. He is calling out the one who are 2nd or 3rd generation welfare families who have ZERO aspirations but to sit at home all day, raise babies and live off what the government is giving them. I personally have heard a women tell me she is hoping to get pregnant because she is tired of taking the bus everyday, and with the additional child the increase in her check will let her make a car payment!
What happened to PERSONAL ACCOUNTABILITY? I can completely understand someone without a job, or without a support system getting pregnant and getting on welfare. But there needs to be reprecussions to their decision making from that point on. 1 baby, we can help. Get pregnant again and your benefits will be cut substantially and will be again for every subsequent baby you have that you are UNABLE to provide for. This is getting ridiculous, we as a people are having to watch every single penny we make, while those on welfare live recession free. I’m sick and tired of taking care of people who blatently refuse to take care of themselves. I am married and have 2 children, taking care of my family is tough enough
[...] Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer of South Carolina on charity: My grandmother was not a highly educated woman, but she told me as a small child to quit feeding [...]