An Early Candidate for Foot in Mouth Competition

What is it about South Carolina politicians? You've got a governor who vanishes for a weekend.. we find out that he didn't just go for a run in the woods... he's ran to Argentina to be with another woman... you've got a state senator who yells out "You Lie!" at a nationally televised Presidential State of the Union meeting last year... and now, just when you think these elected officials can't embarrass themselves and their state anymore, you have this...

When things looked their darkest for Gov. Mark Sanford (when he was in danger of being impeached for running off to Argentina to see his mistress), his best insurance policy may well have been South Carolina's Lieutenant Governor, Andre Bauer.

Lawmakers knew if they removed Sanford, they would end up with Bauer, a fiercely ambitious Republican with a reputation for reckless and immature behavior. Now, Bauer has folks shaking their heads again after he likened government assistance to the poor to feeding stray animals. At a town hall meeting on 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 (and as it turns out, neither is he), 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." Democrats and others railed at him.

"I am disgusted by these comments. They show an unbelievable lack of compassion toward the unemployed workers in our state who are hurting during these hard times," said state Sen. Vincent Sheheenen, a Democrat who is also running for governor. "His comments were immoral and out of line." South Carolina schools Superintendent Jim Rex, another Democratic candidate for governor, called Bauer's comments "reprehensible" and said he should apologize.

Bauer said Monday that he regrets his choice of words but that government should expect welfare recipients to try to better themselves. He wants to require them to take drug tests and attend parent-teacher conferences if they have children in school. And, there's nothing wrong with that but, he didn't say that. He could have and without the animal references, I wouldn't be writing this.

As a child of divorce who benefited from "free lunches" himself, Bauer insisted he wasn't bad-mouthing people who are laid-off from work in the recession or advocating taking food from children... but rather, emphasizing the need to break the cycle of dependency. Again, he could have said that without the metaphors, but he didn't.

"Do I wish I'd used a different metaphor? Of course I do," the 40 year old said. "I didn't intend to offend anyone." I'm sure you do wish you'd used a different metaphor... NOW, of course. Let's not pretend that his grandmother was not talking about African-Americans. She was. You know it and I know it. She lived in a time when saying something like that would not cause the uproar it does now. She lived in a time when a Black president was unthinkable. Well, thhat time is not now.

Don't get me wrong..I have nothing against the great state of South Carolina. I love Myrtle Beach... I even spent some time there when I was in the Air Force and I spent some great times in Columbia, SC. (And, in theory, I don't completely disagree with what his grandmother said... in theory. But, I know that when she said it, she wasn't talking about stray animals or white folk who happened to be on welfare.) But, I sure am perplexed with the officials people from this state elect to represent them and the things they do and say.

These people make them look like idiots. I'm going to tell you something my grandmother told me as a child... She said that "people usually get the type of leaders they deserve". So, what does that say? Just something to think on...