Anderson Cooper Slams GOP Senator Who Derailed Disabilities Treaty

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Anderson Cooper on CNN slammed Republican freshman U.S. Senator Mike Lee  from Utah for his false statements about the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the result of which, in cooperation with former U.S. Senator and GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum, and the radical religious right, derailed the treaty.

WATCH: Glenn Beck And Rick Santorum: ‘Fascistic’ UN Disabilities Treaty Is From ‘Nazi Days’

Senator Lee, the youngest sitting U.S. Senator, was unable to cite any valid reasons for his derailing the UN disabilities treaty, and could not cite any examples of a UN treaty that had any bearing on U.S. law. For Lee, a constitutional lawyer, to be unable to defend his ludicrous positions, is extremely damaging to his credibility.

Lee, after a heated back and forth, says that UN officials sitting on “their perch in a UN office” could tell Americans how to “live their lives.”

“Cooper pressed Lee to explain how approving the treaty would change U.S. law, despite legal claims to the contrary that it would not,” Mediaite reports. “Lee cited a provision in the treaty granting international ‘entitlement rights,’ and another provision that he believed would ‘undermine the rights of parents.’ When Lee said that there is an abortion plank in the treaty, Cooper challenged him by saying it only grants the same health care rights to the disabled as everyone else overseas.”

Cooper said that the treaty is non-self-obligating, therefore there is nothing mandatory that has to be enforced. Lee insisted it still has an impact, warning about how parts of the treaty could have a long-standing impact on U.S. law.

Cooper challenged Lee to name any other U.S. treaty that has had such an impact. Lee said he “didn’t come prepared to cite Supreme Court precedent on this point,” to which Cooper further insisted that Lee was merely positing “very scary hypotheticals” with no evidence to back up his claims. Cooper repeatedly pushed Lee to name another treaty to impact U.S. law, explaining that Lee arguing the point on the Senate floor should have prepared him for this line of questioning.

Bottom line, Senator Lee and his Tea Party friends lied about this treaty, probably because they hate the UN.

Conservatives claimed the treaty would promote abortion, take away the rights of parents to raise their children as they see fit, and even take away children from their parents. Glenn Beck apparently lied, saying the treaty sounds “really Orwellian or, quite honestly, fascistic from the Nazi days,” and Rick Santorum wholeheartedly agreed.

This is the heart of the Republican Party and the Tea Party.

Liars who will say anything to get their way — and their way is intent on harming America, and now the world.

We truly have become the laughing stocks of the world.

 

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Related:

Breaking: Radical Conservatives Win — People With Disabilities Lose Senate Vote