Andre Bauer: Sorry But Honest About "Stray Animals" Remark

Andre Bauer, the Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina, found himself in hot water yesterday when he compared helping poor people to feeding "stray animals" during his speech at a town hall meeting. Today, Bauer apologized for his remarks, saying his words were taken out of context and used as an analogy, not a metaphor. He still says he stands by his words, however.

During the meeting Bauer 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. And so what you've got to do is you've got to curtail that type of behavior. They don't know any better."

On his blog, Bauer tried to explain his point on "breeding a culture of dependency" further. He said that he might not be "politically correct," but he is being honest. He acknowledged that his metaphor could have been delivered more eloquently, but the overall message remains true. Bauer said there are "those who are not truly needy, merely lazy or greedy, who are taking advantage of the system" and that has to change.

Many people were shocked by Bauer's "stray animal" remark, as was evident from the conversation on Twitter:

Others supported Bauer, saying:

Do you share Bauer's views?