South Carolina’s Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer has apologized for comparing poor people to “stray animals” that are encouraged by gifts of food to breed uncontrollably. Bauer, who is running in the state’s gubernatorial election, told CNN while apologizing that he is “not against animals.”

What he is is maybe a little dense. After telling the news network that “I never intended to tie people to animals,” Bauer repeated the error by offering this pearl of wisdom: “If you have a cat, if you take it in your house and feed it and love it, what happens when you go out of town?” Consider them tied, gov.

Click here for a report on Bauer’s original comments. — PZS

CNN via PoliticalWire:

In a phone interview with CNN, Bauer, a Republican candidate for governor, said, “I wish I had used a different metaphor.” Bauer told an audience Friday that people receiving government assistance are like “stray animals” because “they breed” and “don’t know any better.”

“I never intended to tie people to animals,” he said, before opting for a kinder animal metaphor: “If you have a cat, if you take it in your house and feed it and love it, what happens when you go out of town?”

Noting that he has raised money for a group that protects animals, Bauer also said he is “not against animals.”

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