South Carolina Lieutenant Governor Andre Bauer, with whom I’ve been fascinated for many years, is now making national headlines (again). If you’re unfamiliar with the guy I used to cover, this is what I wrote of him in 2006 :
“SC Lt. Guvnah Andre Bauer is a guy who uses the word “super”, but not ironically. He’s a guy who likes to drive fast and fly planes, and he gets into trouble for both. He’s a guy who barely survived physical death… and now he’s barely survived political death… more than once. I don’t know quite what to make of him. I can’t help but wonder if he’s Powder. Remember Powder? Maybe, like Powder, Bauer was struck by lightning before he was born and now he has mysterious powers. Only Bauer’s power is the ability to come back from near self destruction.”
Which is to say, he’ll likely recover from this:
South Carolina’s Lt. Governor Andre Bauer, who is running for Governor of the state on the Republican ticket, said a bunch of monumentally stupid and ignorant things that would shock even the most cynical person at a luncheon the other day, like:
“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.”
Let’s be absolutely clear, here: Bauer’s remarks are not appalling because they’re offensive or “un-PC” or a Biden-esque “oops!” They’re reprehensible because this man who currently holds office in South Carolina and is making a bid to run the state is demonstrating beyond a shadow of a doubt that he doesn’t possess even the very most basic understanding of the biggest problem in his state, which is poverty. Deep, ingrained, historical-legacy style poverty.
Read more: South Carolina Lt. Governor Andre Bauer Compares His State’s Poor Children to ‘Stray Animals’
Tags: andre bauer, lt gov, poor people, SC
Hey Elise // by Elise Hu 
January 24, 2010 at 10:38 am |
Bauer never said anything about taking food from children, nor did he compare the needy to stray animals. He simply said welfare benefits should be taken away from lazy recipients who won’t even lift a finger to help themselves or their children. And the American taxpayers agree with him.
Follow the link to his actual statement and you’ll see for yourself. Let your readers hear his exact words as they were spoken — rather than selections taken out of context — by clicking http://www.greenvilleonline.com/ which loads the Greenville News homepage. Please scroll down, looking on the right side, until you see Latest Videos and his name. Clicking his picture will allow you to listen to his remarks, which lasted almost three minutes.
Andre Bauer offers additional comments on “breeding a culture of dependency”
“Big difference between being truly needy and truly lazy”
At a forum this week, I spoke out in favor of finding ways to break the government’s cycle of handouts and dependency.
Yes, I believe government is “breeding a culture of dependency” which has grown out of control, and frankly, amounts to little more than socialism, paid for by hard-working, tax-paying families… against their wishes.
At the same time, I feel strongly that we can and should help our neighbors who are truly needy. In fact, I’ve spent much of my last seven years helping those in need… traveling the state to help provide blankets, shoes, food, and health care to those who need it most.
However, there’s a big difference between being truly needy and truly lazy.
My suggestion to require parents of children who receive free lunches to attend parent-teacher conferences is simply a common-sense idea to help break the cycle of dependency, while at the same time providing a better education and a brighter future for the children affected.
Requiring drug testing for adults receiving tax-funded benefits is also just good, plain, common sense.
Yes, I am speaking out for such requirements, even though they may be “politically incorrect” in the eyes of the news media. It’s better for the children, it’s better for the taxpayers, and, in the end, offering a hand up instead of a hand out will be better for those who have become taxpayer dependents.
Americans are a compassionate people who will always help their brothers who are truly in need. But we cannot and will not allow those who are simply “riding the system” to continue to do so without consequence.
Warren Buffet once said, “No one washes a rental car.” He’s right. We must find ways to instill some sense of responsibility or consequence into those who are now a part of the cycle of automatic hand-outs.
Generational welfare is bad for the people on it and bad for the state of South Carolina.
January 24, 2010 at 5:57 pm |
I don’t have an extensive knowledge of Andre Bauer but what I do know makes me take a decidedly negative view of him. His remarks comparing people receiving government assistance to stray animals is one of the most striking reasons.
André Bauer’s website potrays him as a commited Christian leader standing up for his belief in God, and claims that he has always supported and will continue to support anti-abortion legislation. He believes “every child deserves the chance to explore the world we live in and experience God’s creations.” . . . That is unless they are poor, in which case they should just die of starvation.
http://lifeondoverbeach.wordpress.com/
March 1, 2010 at 12:14 pm |
SC2 4-ever!!!