South Carolina governor candidate explains Bauer family values: don't feed the poor, or they'll breed like stray dogs

Andre Bauer

They will reproduce, especially ones that don’t think too much further than that.
--Grandmother of candidate Andre Bauer

Maybe Mr. Bauer's grandmother didn't think through her idea of how to get poor people to stop reproducing. A quick glance at world population proves that hunger doesn't end reproduction. Death by starvation, on the other hand, would solve the problem to Grandma's satisfaction, it seems. But so would abortion, and Grandma, as a card-carrying conservative, wouldn't approve of that, would she? The bottom line seems to be that Grandma was advocating a slow, painful death. Surely she didn't mean to do that, did she? I'm guessing Grandma herself may have had some poor ancestors who may have received food from others at some point. She would most likely not advocate that the world would be better off without her. Bauer explains, "My grandmother was not a highly educated woman..." It seems her grandson may not have outpaced her by much.

Oops, wait a minute. I see that Bauer was talking about not feeding kids with subsidized school lunches. Ah, well, that's a different story. If you starve them when they're young, then you would indeed keep them from breeding. So I'll give him credit for logical thinking.

At the same time, I'm wondering if we now have some insight into the motivations of people who oppose government subsidized health care.



So It’s Granny’s Fault?
January 28, 2010
New York Timnes

With its trysting governor and “you lie!” congressman, South Carolina has suffered more than its share of politician-induced embarrassment. Now Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer has topped them, cruelly equating government help for the poor to “feeding stray animals.”...

He eschewed what he described as political correctness and sternly called for the state to “curtail that type of behavior” by taking away assistance if the parents of children receiving subsidized lunches don’t show up for school conferences...

In casting himself as the candidate of heartless civics, if not nitwit eugenics, Mr. Bauer at least stirred an encouraging furor. Outraged residents point out that South Carolina has one of the highest poverty rates in the nation, with unemployment rising to 12.6 percent in a Great Recession the poor hardly caused. Fifty-eight percent of the state’s students receive subsidized lunches...



South Carolina governor candidate compares poor people to animals
San Francisco Examiner
January 25, 2010

Poor choice of words: South Carolina Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer compared poor people to animals. (AP)

WHO: South Carolina Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer

WHAT: Bauer, a Republican candidate for governor, is under increasing criticism after he compared poor people receiving benefits to “stray animals,” saying his grandmother had told him to stop feeding them. “You know why? Because they breed,” he reportedly told a crowd. “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.”