South Carolina Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer Compares Poor to 'Stray Animals'

(Jan. 25) – Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer – a Republican candidate to replace Mark Sanford as governor of South Carolina – is under fire for remarks he made about people who get government aid.

"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," he told an audience in the town of Fountain Inn on Friday. "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."

Bauer later told The Greenville News he wasn't saying that poor people are animals, he was speaking out against a "culture of dependence" on government. For instance, he said, parents whose children get assistance such as free or reduced-price school lunches should be required to pass drug tests and attend parent-teacher conferences.

Democrats blasted Bauer's comments, demanding that he apologize and quit the governor's race. Republican state Rep. Harry Cato said Bauer had "gone overboard."

Bauer defended himself in a statement released over the weekend.

"I do not care about being politically correct," he declared. "I care about being honest."

In an e-mail sent to supporters Sunday, he said government has a responsibility to help the poor, but added "there's a big difference between being truly needy and truly lazy."

But in a phone interview with CNN, Bauer said, "I wish I had used a different metaphor," the network reported today. He also told CNN he is "not against animals."