Even having a Senate colleague, former Senator Bob Dole, war veteran, rolled into the chamber in a wheelchair, did nothing to stop this shameful vote against the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities treaty. (MaddowBlog):

The Senate killed the treaty this afternoon, with a final vote of 61 to 38, which seems like a lopsided majority, but which fell short of the two-thirds necessary for ratification. Eight Republicans broke ranks and joins Democrats in support of the treaty, but the clear majority of the Senate GOP voted to block it.

The U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities, for those who’ve forgotten, is a human rights treaty negotiated by the George H.W. Bush administration, which has beenratified by 126 nations, including China, Russia, Iran, Cuba, Syria, and Saudi Arabia.

But most Senate Republicans saw it as a threat to American “sovereignty,” even though the treaty wouldn’t have required the United States to change its laws.

This was supported not only by Dole, but John McCain and Dick Lugar. Instead the GOP sheeple fell in line with the bombastic claims of Rick Santorum, who went on the media warpath on paranoid Glenn Beck’s show where this bullsh*ttery was unleashed:

Rick Santorum, who has been leading the fight against ratification, appeared on Glenn Beck’s radio program when Beck ominously cited language from the convention proclaiming that “children with disabilities shall be registered immediately after birth” to suggest that something “really Orwellian or, quite honestly, fascistic from the Nazi days” was going on; an assessment with which Santorum heartily agreed.

The most amazing thing about this, and the subsequent discussion in which Beck and his co-hosts wildly speculated about what this and other provisions within the convention “really” mean, is the extent to which their complete ignorance about the actual meaning and intent of such provisions in no way hinders their willingness to boldly make declarations about them.

Article 18, Section 2 of the Convention the Rights of Persons with Disabilities says that “children with disabilities shall be registered immediately after birth and shall have the right from birth to a name, the right to acquire a nationality and, as far as possible, the right to know and be cared for by their parents.”

While Beck and his cronies were busy laughing about the aburd assertion that children have a right to a name and to acquire a nationality, a bit of research would have taught them that such language is rooted in Article 24 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which entered into force in 1976…

As someone with disabilities, it’s hard to believe a fellow human being can think this way, but I guess nothing is surprising anymore.

UPDATE: The 38 Senators who helped shoot this down are also in bed with the likes of Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association, who said, without any evidence or small details called “facts” to back his sh*t up, said the treaty could lead to the deaths of disabled children. People for the American Way’s Right Wing Watch:

Fischer: Disabled newborn babies in the UK are being put, oftentimes overriding the wishes of parents, on this death pathway where no matter what the parents want the doctors say this kid cannot live, severely disabled, too many congenital deformities, we think the best thing for this kid is just to be starved and dehydrated to death. It seems to me that although that’s not specifically contemplated in this treaty that could be an outcome.

Or how about homeschooling activist Michael Farris who, in an interview with Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, said the treaty will prompt the UN to take control of kids with glasses or ADHD and remove them from their families.

Farris: They’re called living documents, just like the disgraced living Constitution theory, which means the treaty doesn’t mean today what it’s going to mean tomorrow what it’s going to mean ten years from now. So you never know what you’re signing up for, that by itself is a good enough reason to leave it alone and to never enter into one of these things. But in particular, you hit the nail on the head Tony, the definition of disability is not defined in the treaty. My kid wears glasses, now they’re disabled, now the UN gets control over them; my child’s got a mild case of ADHD, now you’re under control of the UN treaty. There’s no definitional standard, it can change over time, and the UN, not American policymakers, are the ones who get it decided.

The roll call: NAYs, 38: Alexander (R-TN), Blunt (R-MO), Boozman (R-AR), Burr (R-NC), Chambliss (R-GA), Coats (R-IN), Coburn (R-OK), Cochran (R-MS), Corker (R-TN), Cornyn (R-TX), Crapo (R-ID), DeMint (R-SC), Enzi (R-WY), Graham (R-SC), Grassley (R-IA), Hatch (R-UT), Heller (R-NV), Hoeven (R-ND), Hutchison (R-TX), Inhofe (R-OK), Isakson (R-GA), Johanns (R-NE), Johnson (R-WI), Kyl (R-AZ), Lee (R-UT), McConnell (R-KY), Moran (R-KS), Paul (R-KY), Portman (R-OH), Risch (R-ID), Roberts (R-KS), Rubio (R-FL), Sessions (R-AL), Shelby (R-AL), Thune (R-SD), Toomey (R-PA), Vitter (R-LA), Wicker (R-MS), Not Voting – 1
Kirk (R-IL).