Republicans Veto Ratification of Disability Rights

[Feral Dog]

So, here's a newslink for ya:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/opinion-la/la-ol-disability-treaty-senate-20121206,0,5480868.story

Details: Bob Dole, a Republican, came along and gave a speech in support of the treaty. Ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities lost by 38 votes, all of them Republican. Apparently, ratifying it (which doesn't require us to change any laws!) threatens homeschoolers of children with disabilities and the fact that some ratifying countries might not follow through is reason enough to not sign it at all... and would somehow lead to euthanasia of disabled children.

[tempus]

They've officially crossed the line from villainy into cartoonish supervillain-level villainy.

[Dakota Bob]

Huh. the republicans must be so scared of foreigners that they'll block a treaty from them.

[starseeker]

Huh. the republicans must be so scared of foreigners that they'll block a treaty from them.

That the Americans wrote in the first place.

[Material Defender]

And people say the Republicans care about people.

[Agni]

And people say the Republicans care about people.

Republicans DO care about people--just mostly white people (preferably rich)

This party continues to make itself irrelevant. There's no excuse for not ratifying this. And yet they're still heavily supported. What will it take for this party to finally lose the grip it has over a large swath of America's populace?

[ironbite]

Worse...this is something Bush the Lesser worked hard to get.

Ironbite-I'm...amazed at these Tea Party idiots.

[Material Defender]

I think mostly when there's a break between Tea Party and moderate republicans we'll see what happens.

[Feral Dog]

I think mostly when there's a break between Tea Party and moderate republicans we'll see what happens.

There IS a break, but from what I've seen both sides are blind to it.

From the moderate end: They know people like the ones in the Tea Party in real life, and refuse to believe that people like them are in charge of their party right now (evidence be damned), because most of them are still under the impression that the Tea Party is just a conservative revival, not a reactionary one. For examplem they still think Reagan would be supported by the Tea Party.

From the Tea Party end: The lack of criticism from their own party and endorsement of the movement from major players for the Republican team gives the false impression that all conservatives share their extreme views. For example, they think Reagan would have supported their views.

Until one side or the other realizes that they're closer together than they are to liberals but not in total agreement, this weird quasi-schism is just going to keep going.