Just another day at the office for Republicans.Meet Andre Bauer, the latest Republican jackass to have a Freudian slip of the tongue. Bauer is the current Lt. Gov. of South Carolina (yes... That South Carolina) and is in the process of running for the Governorship. It seems as if South Carolina has a tag team trio of idiots - Mark Sanford, Joe Wilson, and Andre Bauer. Some believe that Bauer could have other ambitions, and may be interested in running for President or VP in 2012.
From the AP
At a town hall meeting Thursday, Bauer, who is running for governor in his own right now that Sanford is term-limited, said:
"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." Read full report
Bauer tried to explain himself to Politico, but i'm having a hard time buying any of it. Maybe it's just me, but I decoded his comments as not only an attack on the poor, but as an attack (in a roundabout way) on minorities. He's in a State that's roughly 1/3 Black and where racial divisions are still very evident. So it's not as if these were innocent comments in a vacuum....with no context. I also found it interesting that he made the comments with the crisis in Haiti as a backdrop - one of the largest relief efforts certainly in the history of North America. Just a coincidence that he made these comments with Haiti in the news all day and night? Maybe so. But it's a strange coincidence. I'm sure he was focusing on local politics and local issues in South Carolina, with his eye on the Governors office.
But even if he was referring to the situation in his State or in the lower 48, doesn't he know that a growing number of his Conservative voters now fall into the "poor" or "needy" category? Many were plunged into "poor" status at the hands of his fellow Republicans (Oh how soon they forget in Massachusetts). Doesn't he have a clue that an increasing number of White Suburbanites...many of whom are Republican... are dealing with hunger and are turning to food banks and public assistance? (Hear the NPR Hunger Series). Hell, I work with some of these folks everyday. The Republicans could kill their children, and they would still lean Republican. There isn't a damn thing that I or anyone else could do to get them to like Obama.
It boggles the mind to know that these are the kinds of politicians (Wilson, Bachmann, Palin, Bauer, etc) who are Representing the Republican Party and who American voters feel comfortable with.
Where are all of the critics who tried to paint Obama as elitist? Will they do the same for Republicans? Probably not. But Republicans will continue to be credited for being more in-tune with the "little guy" or the average struggling American (a lie of course).
Writer and Veteran Gordon Duff had an interesting take on Bauer's comments - see here.
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The problem with Bauer and most elitist critics of the poor (and, yes, they ARE elitist. Good catch, AI) is that they fail to see the trees from the forest. In many respects, Bauer is absolutely right. In others, he's so far from the truth it's scary.
In my hometown of Flint, it's not uncommon to see people with freshly done hair and nails, plasma TVs, new furniture, Baby Phat clothing, five kids, a bridge card. What motivation do people like this have to get jobs like the rest of us when they're simply given a bunch of shit? That mentality then works its way down to the new generation and to the one after that; creating this self-perpetuating cycle of government dependence and laziness. But then...
...then, there are the millions of Americans with a desire to work and provide for themselves and their families who have been steamrolled by corporate greed, irresponsible banks, Congressional corruption, and a litany of other things that have contributed to their plight. Folks like this aren't asking to be in the top 10% of the wealthy in this country. They're not trying to live on easy street where they live off a welfare check and a bridge card (in fact, many of them are too proud for that). They simply want to live a life where they can provide for their families. It's a shame that people like Bauer puts his foot on their throat each time he makes these kinds of comments.
What's worse it that general electrorate will forget comments like this come election time.
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