Yes, I am spoiling everyone’s breakfast by yammering on about this disgraceful failed vote over a UN-supportive nothingburger treaty, which calls for people with disabilities to be treated with a degree of respect that was written into American law more than twenty years ago, by that treacherous RINO George H.W. Bush. No, I don’t believe that signing it would have immediately improved the global standards of care for persons with life-altering medical conditions. But the GOP rejected the resolution — in a chaff-cloud of paranoid rumors about UN black helicopters stealing home-schooled children away from their loving parents and forcing doctors to condemn ‘imperfect’ babies to death — because the convention is about the “Rights of Persons with Disabilities”, foremost among them the right to the greatest possible level of autonomy. The Republican Dung Beetles believe that “rights” are for white men with money, and that any attempt by the rest of us to assert our autonomy is a plot to steal control from those whom God and the Second Amendment intended to be in charge.
Lawrence Downes, in the NYTImes, on “A Parting Slap Against Bob Dole & Disabled Americans“:
Former Senator Bob Dole, 89 years old and in a wheelchair, went onto to the floor of the Senate today to urge his former colleagues to ratify the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities. Mr. Dole, a disabled veteran, has been one of the leading voices urging ratification of the treaty, which seeks to bring the world closer to the high standard set by the Americans with Disabilities Act, the landmark civil-rights law enacted under President George H.W. Bush.
One by one, according to Roll Call, the senators approached Mr. Dole to pat his shoulder or clasp his hand, making gestures of respect for the man who was for many years the Republican majority leader.
Then he was wheeled away, and all but a handful of the Republicans bailed out on him. The treaty failed. It needed a two-thirds vote to pass, or 67 votes, and fell six short…
In other words, these cowards didn’t have the guts to disagree with a crippled octegenarian to his face.
Only eight Republicans voted yes: Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, John Barrasso of Wyoming, Scott Brown of Massachusetts, Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine, Richard Lugar of Indiana, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and John McCain of Arizona.
Several Republicans who might have made a difference but voted “no,” as Roll Call pointed out, are up for re-election in 2014 and are facing possible primary challenges from the right: Saxby Chambliss of Georgia, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, and Thad Cochran of Mississippi, who changed his “yes” to a “no” after it was obvious the treaty would fail…
So Sen. Cochran knew what the honorable vote would be, but if he couldn’t score a ‘win’, he didn’t have the courage to stand apart from the cockroaches scuttling for cover.
.. Senator John Kerry, the Massachusetts Democrat and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a statement after the vote: “This is one of the saddest days I’ve seen in almost 28 years in the Senate, and it needs to be a wake-up call about a broken institution that’s letting down the American people.”
He added: “Today the dysfunction hurt veterans and the disabled, and that’s unacceptable. This treaty was supported by every veterans group in America and Bob Dole made an inspiring and courageous personal journey back to the Senate to fight for it. It had bipartisan support, and it had the facts on its side, and yet for one ugly vote, none of that seemed to matter. We won’t give up on this and the Disabilities Treaty will pass because it’s the right thing to do, but today I understand better than ever before why Americans have such disdain for Congress and just how much must happen to fix the Senate so we can act on the real interests of our country.”
Quoted for truth, Senator Kerry. Also too:
… Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, said the measure would return to the Senate floor in the 113th Congress.
“It is a sad day when we cannot pass a treaty that simply brings the world up to the American standard for protecting people with disabilities because the Republican Party is in thrall to extremists and ideologues,” he said in a statement.
Decent Democrats during the later two-thirds of the twentieth century were forever being embarrassed by the Boll Weevil Democrats. Those pests have been replaced by Dung Beetle Republicans. Some of them are crazy, and some of them are trying to use that crazy for their own malign ends, and every single one of them is a public disgrace.
jonas
You thought the gobsmacking assholery of these people couldn’t get any worse, then, well, they take it up a notch. If there were some sovereignty-busting treaty out there committing all signatories to banning abortion of disabled fetuses or something, they’d be on the Senate floor 24 hours a day, seven days a week, on their knees with tears streaming down their cheeks to pass it. When a treaty calling for the equitable treatment of _born_ children with disabilities comes along, signed by a *Republican President*, and inspired by *American law*, they simply can’t countenance it.
Your just want to punch these guys in the dick.
Raven
My dermisted beetles shipped yesterday, they aren’t dung eating but they are flesh eating!
Keith G
You forgot to mention that Mr. Dole’s disabilities are due to a combination of age and grievous wounds suffered by this man during combat action (direct enemy fire) in Italy during WWII. That man is a true hero who sacrificed more for us than all but a few of our federal elected officials can begin to comprehend – and more than a few went to great efforts to avoid.
They are slime
gene108
Y’all do realize the last time there was a lame duck session, the Republicans nearly killed a U.S.-Russia nuclear arms reduction treaty?
The sort of treaty that used to pass unanimously.
These guys are sociopaths.
What is scarier are the citizens of states that keep voting these guys into office and think these sort of ‘no’ votes are a good idea.
Patricia Kayden
Is anyone surprised? Rick Santorum’s first column in the WND was anti this treaty. The Repubs appear to not have learned anything from losing on November 6th. They’re as extreme as ever.
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/41281_Rick_Santorum_Now_Writing_for_World_Net_Daily-_The_UN_Wants_to_Kill_My_Daughter
kay
George H W Bush is a good marker, a dividing line, in the history of the GOP.
He supported this, and he also supported Title X (when he was in the House; Nixon signed it) which is the wildly successful federal program that funds family planning. He said at the time he wanted to make family planning “a household word”.
Republicans almost shut down the government last year over Title X. No one ever paid any attention to it before (it’s for poor people, so invisible) and all of a sudden it became this crucial purity test.
No one in media would talk about how weird it was that they were gunning for this program that had been accepted on the Right for decades, except for Paul Begala, who kept pointing it out. That part was fun to watch, how they’d all get really uncomfortable and try to shut him up when he’d insist on tracking how far Right they’d gone. So fucked up how hard they were all working to cover the truth of what’s happening right in front of them.
Raven
@Keith G: I’m pretty sure Saxby voted no. He has a great record in regard to disabled vets.
JPL
@Raven: Chip Rogers of Agenda 21 fame is stepping down as Senate Majority leader. The local news told me he is joining GA Public Broadcasting. Maybe he’ll have a half hour talk show where he can spout off his knowledge of the United Nations.
kay
I am actually not that surprised on this.
It’s dogma on the Right that the ADA is a huge burden on business and churches and private schools. I’ve heard that in this town, that the religious school could not expand because if they did the new construction would have to comply with the ADA. I don’t know, I’m not familiar with the law, but I have heard that here. Huge burden, incessant whining. Waaaah! We’re being FORCED! OUR RIGHTS!
Rand Paul believes the ADA is unconstitutional as applied to private entities. Just the mention of it makes him break out his libertarian sneer.
WereBear
I’ve tried to come up with how all this squinty-eyed meanness fits into a “conservative” world view; you’d think they would want fewer poor people, for instance. In a practical sense, there is nothing but WIN here.
But I’ve concluded that it’s just squinty-eyed meanness. That’s what they have devolved into: bullies who are mean to people because they can be!
Devo tried to warn us…
WereBear
Weird, isn’t it? Someone has trouble getting into your establishment to spend some money… well, that’s your problem! Someone has to wait to buy a gun… THE MOST HORRIBLE THING EVER.
They are allergic to compassion.
aimai
I would just like to remind people that before Bob Dole was old enough to be forgotten he and his wife, Liddy Dole, were pretty terrible people. Liddy Dole singlehandedly ruined the reputation of the Red Cross with respect to blood donation/collection by privatizing it, IIRC. And as for Mr. Third Person he was an egregiously vicious person, politically speaking.
aimai
burnspbesq
@kay:
Rand Paul knows less about the Constitution than the average 12-year-old.
amk
Really ? Then how come they keep electing the same cretins over and over ?
arguingwithsignposts
@amk: The Peter Principle?
amk
@kay: media are the main enablers of this continual shitfest from the goopers.
JGabriel
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jonas:
Then pull it off them and shove it down their throats.
Interestingly enough, almost every vote against the treaty came, in fact, from someone with a dick. The only woman to vote against it was Kay Bailey Hutchinson.
Let no one ever say you have balls, Kay.
Every Democrat, and every woman, both D and R — except for Hutchinson — voted to ratify.
.
kay
@WereBear:
One would think they’d change their tune, because in our office the ADA benefits the elderly. Probably 90% of the people I see who would need accommodations are not “disabled”, but elderly, so relying on a wheelchair, walker, etc.
We rehabbed the law office when we bought the building, it was an upholstery shop, and I vaguely remember some discussion of hallway width and a larger bathroom with the contractor. I think that was ADA.
But God forbid practical considerations would get in the way of dogma.
WereBear
Consistency is for the little people.
arguingwithsignposts
What is especially interesting to me is when churches complain about this type of thing. Heaven forbid a church should be worried about trying to get the sick and the lame through the doors.
Most of that stuff was grandfathered in, anyway. It’s been a while, but I seem to recall that you didn’t have to renovate existing hallways, bathrooms, etc., but new construction had to comply.
In short, a lot of bitching about nothing as per usual.
MattF
Cowardly, delusional, stupid, and cruel. A home run for Republicans!
JGabriel
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WereBear:
A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds. Being fools, a non-foolish consistency is outside the ken of the GOP.
.
brantl
This is all about “The UN not telling us what to do!” Even though it matches the ADA, this is what happens when stupid dovetails perfectly with belligerent. That should be our bumper sticker for the tea party, “Tea Party, where stupid dovetails perfectly with belligerent!”, they wouldn’t get it, because they wouldn’t know what “dovetails” means.
debbie
A vote of small consequence to Republicans. I’d bet they’ve already drawn up plans to disenfranchise the disabled before the next election.
Wag
I think the American people would back this treaty by at least 3 to 1 if the question were framed fairly (would you back a UN treaty establishing the same standards worldwide for the basic rights of public access of disabled people as ate enshrined in our own Americans with Disabilities Act?)
This is another win, a wedge issue that the Dems can use to paint the GOP into their right wing corner. Humiliate the fuckers in the open air.
SiubhanDuinne
@JPL: I thought it was funny last night during ATC on the local news drop-in how Denis O’Hayer kept stressing that GPB has nothing, do you hear me, nothing to do with WABE. He sure didn’t want any listeners to think they were tainted by even a slight connection to Chip. LOL.
Z. Mulls
I feel very sad about Bob Dole. I read Richard Ben Cramer’s “What It Takes” and came away with incredible respect for him personally. (Even my wife’s rabble-rousing leftist grandmother respected him after reading the book). He was the sort of guy who know when and how to cut a deal and not feel bad about it. He was a “hatchet man” by reputation, but when you read about how much he had to overcome personally to get where he was, you at least understand why his personal standards were so high. He expected a lot of people and didn’t suffer fools.
But after he lost the Presidency, when he was out of the Senate, I hoped he would function as an elder statesman, but he kept showing up for cheap political attacks. I am assuming that since Liddy had a political career, he felt he had to keep being the attack dog for her side. But I lost a lot of respect for him.
I totally lost respect for him when he participated in the shameful Kerry attacks, mocking his war injuries. Coming from Bob Dole, that was as low as it gets.
So he is finally coming back to be the elder statesman (and god knows how much the journey took out of him physically), and he’s reaping what he has sown. It’s sad to see. He was a true war hero and in many ways an admirable man, but he threw it all away.
J.D. Rhoades
@Patricia Kayden:
Santorum especially objected, it seems, to this passage:
“In all actions concerning children with disabilities, the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration.”
I hate to tell, you, Rih, but this is already the legal standard in every American jurisdiction in legal actions where children’s welfare is concerned: custody, abuse and neglect petitions, etc.
My wife summed it up: “wilfully stupid.”
the Conster
@kay:
You know how to shut up wingnuts up about the ADA whining? Tell them that it was Diebold that pushed the hardest for that to pass. They make ATM machines, and saw a perfect rent-seeking opportunity – perfectly good machines that banks already had would all have to be replaced with ADA compliant machines. I tell Republicans who complain about the reach of government to follow the money because it ends up in the pockets of corporate CEOs, you know, our Galtian betters.
El Cid
These brave Republicans were right — after all, look at how oppressed we are by all these other UN treaties we’ve signed, you know, what will the UN blue helmets in every school telling us what to teach the kids, and those UN black helicopters continually landing in our abortion clinic parking lots dropping off their next load.
El Cid
By the way, from the home-fooling movement advocate quoted in Right Wing Watch:
What does this even mean?
So if some treaty wording might somehow mention a status to which you below, you’re now “under control” of that treaty?
Ash Can
What slays me is the cowards who changed their votes. Do they really think this will keep them from being primaried from the right? The Republican party has been sowing batshit insanity for years, and now they’re being rewarded in full measure. Enjoy it, Republicans; you’ve earned every bit of it.
Napoleon
@kay:
I am an attorney not a contractor but I can not imagine that complying cost that much. You do not need to retrofit buildings unless you are doing a major change and then just to that portion of the building you are changing. As to new construction for the most part you are talking about curb cuts for wheelchairs, making doors wide enough, putting buttons at a height people can reach, etc. Its not like you suddenly have to put in a helecopter pad which you would not be doing anyways.
Amir Khalid
I am among the unsurprised. The Republican party’s base has proudly displayed its meanness and stupidity too many times for anyone to be shocked when its elected officials do the same.
Cassidy
@El Cid: As usual it’s projection. If they had the power, they would have no problem putting everyone under the boot and the undesirables against the wall. They assume everyone else intends to do the same. It makes them feel more righteous.
mai naem
Why would Kay Bailey Hutchison and Jon Kyl not vote yes. They’re both retiring. How was this going to hurt them? And Lindsay Graham is a big chickenshit coward. I don’t get why the Repubs who won this cycle didn’t vote yes. This is not going to be an issue in six years. Hatch and Grassley were in the senate when Dole was in the senate. How pathetic. And Dean Heller? Kirk’s the one who didn’t vote. Maybe they can give it a try when Kirk comes back. He should be willing to vote for it since he himself is disabled right now. What a pathetic party with pathetic leaders.
elmo
Dear President Obama:
For the good of the country, please propose an international, UN-enforced campaign against the drinking of Drano and the drunken juggling of chainsaws. Please emphasize that this campaign is For The Children.
kthxbai.
efroh
Great post, Anne!
Ohio Mom
Since I became a disability mom fifteen years ago, one of the things that continues to gobsmack me is how many in the disability community are Republicans — that is to say, all those Senators voting “No” were put into office with the help of disabled people. An ARC staff person told me years ago that he thinks it’s mainly people who are anti-choice.
In the run-up to last month’s election, I counted up the families in my suburban subdivision who I know have children with disabilities. It came up to five families besides us, with eight kids among them. These kids all have autism or Down’s; there are probably other kids with less involved disabilities I don’t know about.
Anyway, I know for certain that four of these five families are staunch Republicans — either from their lawn signs, bumper stickers, or past casual conversations. One family’s supported a Tea Party candidate for the statehouse, judging from their lawn sign. There’s no reason to think these families all didn’t vote for Rob Portman, who was one of the Senators voting against the treaty.
Drives me nuts and makes me feel lonely.
Svensker
@brantl:
My brother said, “Do you want Myanmar and North Korea dictating to Americans? ! ! ?” He apparently thinks this means something.
Punchy
Heres what I cant get past….these fuckhead Congressmen know that what the Consty says, know that this “treaty will usurp us all!” is bullshit, but must pander to an exponentially increasingly stupid base. In other words, they must continue to feign this ignorance for years to come, just to be able to represent their constituents, who are dumber than an Iowa State grad.
Patently absurd.
kay
@Napoleon:
I just put it in the section of things we would be complying with, like fire codes. Maybe I lack imagination, but isn’t it easier to have standards rather than my anticipating each and every problem that might occur? My approach was basically “tell me where the EXIT sign has to go”. I’m not disabled, yet. I’m willing to take their word on what they need. I don’t know why I would think they were hatching some evil scheme. The whole point of the thing is so they can come into your business, right? Sounds like a win/win to me.
GregB
@Svensker:
May I recommend giving your brother some ginko biloba and a slap in the face for Christmas.
SFAW
@burnspbesq:
Although that’s probably an insult to those dain-bramaged 12-year-olds.
@Svensker:
I think I am insufficiently appreciative that most of my family is liberal – especially my brother and daughter. All – which in this case, is not many – the conservatives are on Mrs. SFAW’s side. Thankfully, my mother-in-law is pretty liberal, too.
So, you have my condolences on having to deal with certain members of your family.
SFAW
@GregB:
Svensker could probably pick up a bunch of spending money by selling “try to slap some sense into my brother” tickets at a dollar a shot. Wouldn’t rake in as much as PowerBall paid out, but it might be enough to buy a nice car.
Jay in Oregon
@brantl:
“Ah, arrogance and stupidity all in the same package. How efficient of you.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tF27OtzAslY
japa21
@Punchy: I used to believe the same way you do. These people in Congress know that what they are telling their consitituents is a bunch of BS but know they need to say it to get elected.
I don’t believe that any more. I think most of them really do believe the fecal matter that spews forth from their mouths, which is more depressing that the original belief.
gelfling545
@arguingwithsignposts: The church I belonged to until I gave up entirely (ELCA) made adjustments that could have been avoided due to grandfathering of existing construction because its own members were getting to be pretty lame and halt & having them be able to attend church was a priority. I don’t get the whole resistance to this because most of us, if we are fortunate, will be old one day. (Actually, I already am old but generally speaking.)
SFAW
@japa21:
Yes, and “Rush is an entertainer, you libtard!”
Dave C
I know that this isn’t the point of the thread, but as an invertebrate biologist, I feel the need to voice my opposition to this whole “dung beetle” metaphor. Dung beetles provide very valuable ecosystem services. Quite literally, the world would be a much shittier place if dung beetles weren’t around; the same cannot be said of Republicans.
SFAW
@Dave C:
I think Anne Laurie offered a stip to that in her previous thread.
gene108
@mai naem:
Graham’s a RINO, whose days are numbered. He’s doing everything he can to try and survive. Can’t blame the man.
Come primary season, he’ll be toast and lose to a real Republican in the mold of DeMint (and probably backed by DeMint, as well).
mikefromArlington
Just think, we’re counting on some of those no votes for moderate solutions to debt reduction. We’re screwed.
JGabriel
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gene108:
Ah, I remember when Graham was one of the House Managers (read prosecutor) in Bill Clinton’s impeachment trial.
Makes it hard to think of him as a RINO.
.
Omnes Omnibus
@Punchy: No, I don’t think they know any better. Some might, but a lot of these Congress folk are just as ignorant as the people who elected them.
Uncle Ebeneezer
@kay: I used to work for a major sports retailer, and dealt with public liability and property claims. The company is known for undersized stores that are shit-crammed full of merch to the point where even a fully able person can hardly navigate the aisles. There was probably no bigger cause of customer injuries as peopele were constantly bumping into to racks, peg-hooks, treadmills etc. We always sought to just-barely meet ADA in every regard. A couple times our claims adjustors mentioned it in a meeting on where our risks lied, and of course the executives waved their hands and said “this is how we make our money” and then went on to whine about regulation, tort-reform, and all those people who’d rather file lawsuits than get jobs etc. I’m guessing all of them vote solid R, every election. And then of course, after the meetings, it’s right back to “the needs of our customers are priority 1!” With a Harumph and a healthy bonus for everyone wearing a suit.
Maude
Reid is going to bring it up for a vote in the next Congress in 2013.
Roger Moore
@kay:
Which, of course, is crazy. Most of the stuff you have to do to comply with ADA is very cheap if you design it into a building from the beginning; it’s only when you have to retrofit an older building that lacks space that things get pricey. Of course that probably has nothing to do with it, and ADA is just being used as a cover for some other reason they don’t want to admit, like they don’t actually have the money to build the thing in the first place.
Persia
@Napoleon: Yeah, ten years ago I was part of a renovation for a new local store and we basically didn’t have to do anything (which was good, because they couldn’t have done the extensive renovation without basically rebuilding the whole front of the store, but also bad, because the store is pretty much impossible to get into if you use a wheelchair).
El Cid
@Svensker:
I’d be curious to see the flow chart diagram of how their initiatives would be enforced upon the average American.
Roger Moore
@Z. Mulls:
I’m not sure that’s true. It looks more like a classic case of Conservatives being a lot more liberal on hobby horse issues that affect them personally. Dole is disabled, so he’s been a huge backer of rights for the disabled. If you want me to believe that he’s actually a sane, principled elder statesman, show me an issue that doesn’t affect him or his family where he shows the same degree of sanity.
SFAW
@Roger Moore:
Well, I haven’t heard that he’s in favor of nuking Canada (The Menace to Our North), so that’s something.
hitchhiker
@kay:
This. We’re all temporarily abled, for eff’s sake. Some of us get to the walkers and wheelchairs before others, but almost every damn one of us is going to be glad, sometime or other, that we can get to our desks and use the bathroom at the movies and take those things for granted.
gene108
@JGabriel:
He’s been willing to talk to the enemy, which is enough for them to go nuts on him.
From a crazy-ass right-wing blog, which I would recommend not clicking on the link to avoid the moron getting more page views
2 year old Redstate rant (again suggest not clicking on link to give them page views)
Gretchen
@hitchhiker: I didn’t give this sort of thing any thought until I became the mother of twins, and had to get a twin stroller everywher I went. When my older daughter got sick at school, I couldn’t get up to the principal’s office to pick her up because it was on the second floor of an older building with just stairs. I had to stand outside on the sidewalk with the stroller and yell up to the office window to send her down.
TenguPhule
I petition that instead of elephants or dung beetles, the new GOP representation is a graphic of the HIV virus.
dww44
@JPL: Well, thanks for that bit of news. Tells me what I need to know about GPB and their cravenly cowardly right wing tilt and how absolutely gutless their programming is.
I won’t be making any more public broadcasting contributions, no matter how many 60’s singalongs they run in lieu of more worthy original and thought provoking programming.
dww44
@mai naem: You know what I think. I think McConnell put the screws to them somehow, at least to those who don’t retire at the end of this term. Probably said he’d take them off their favored committees, or something.
Methinks that the GOP thinks that their continuing to hang together will provide a path to victory. They are all gutless wonders, the whole lot of them, and most especially my former Congressperson and now my Senator, Saxby Chambliss. He never fails to override his” moderate wanting to govern” impulses, thereby turning himself into an even more gutless politician.
Mike Lamb
@J.D. Rhoades: Thank you for pointing this out. I read that passage over at LGF, and all I could wonder is whether Santorum knew that the standard he was demagoguing is EVERYWHERE already…
Mike Lamb
@Punchy: Objection. Assumes facts not in evidence.
Ruckus
@kay:
Isn’t it funny how conservatives yell about rights but never about responsibility?
Those rights they complain about being ripped from them, they have all types of costs. Conservatives never seem to be about paying the moral and physical costs of those freedoms, only about conservatives having to never, ever having to be responsible.
Good righteous people are never disabled, good righteous people are rich, good righteous people are white, good righteous people are experienced males, good righteous people never have to pay for or experience anything bad.
I wonder why they have to keep telling me they are good righteous people, maybe it’s because I don’t believe them.
Ruckus
@burnspbesq:
Rand Paul knows less about the Constitution than the average 12-year-old.
Isn’t that appropriate seeing as he has the maturity of a 7 year old?
Ruckus
@SFAW:
Reminds me of the scene in Airplane.
Ruckus
@Dave C:
What you are trying nicely not to say is:
Republicans are dung beetle food.