Santorum tweets on defeat of UN disabilities treaty: 'We did it'

Former presidential candidate Rick Santorum immediately jumped on Tuesday's defeat of the U.N. disabilities treaty to promote his advocacy group in favor of conservative Republicans.

The former senator from Pennsylvania failed in his primary bid against Mitt Romney last year, but has since tried to reemerge as a conservative kingmaker. He launched his “Patriot Voices” nonprofit in June to get Republicans into office and push them to the right, and joined World Net Daily as a columnist this week.

“We did it,” Santorum tweeted Tuesday. “#CRPD was defeated today. @Patriot_voices will cont to have an impact on important issues. Pls join us.”

The Senate voted 61-38 in favor of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), five votes short of the two-thirds needed for ratification. Santorum led the charge against the treaty, along with Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), arguing that it could allow the U.N. to impose its will on issues such as abortion and home-schooling of children with disabilities.

Democrats and advocates for people with disabilities called those claims nonsense.

“By refusing to ratify this treaty, Republicans are abandoning America’s longstanding leadership in support of our citizens, servicemembers, and veterans with disabilities who travel, study, do business, or live abroad,” Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said in a statement urging a continued push in favor of ratification.

Republican Sens. Kelly Ayotte (N.H.), John Barrasso (Wyo.), Scott Brown (Mass.), Susan Collins (Maine), Dick Lugar (Ind.), John McCain (Ariz.), Olympia Snowe (Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) voted with Democrats in favor of the treaty.

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