Gov. Brewer Is Outraged About U.N. Report She Clearly Didn't Read

Last night on Fox News, Governor Jan Brewer (R-AZ) delivered a sputtering attack on the State Department's report to the United Nations on human rights in America.  Gov. Brewer gave a wildly inaccurate description of the report, claiming that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Obama are "gonna turn us over to the Human Rights Council on Senate Bill 1070 and let countries like Libya and Cuba decide if we're doing right or wrong."

Brewer went on to argue, absurdly and incoherently, that Clinton and Obama are hypocrites because a real human rights advocate would militarize the border to stop "illegal aliens" from "suffering under inhumane conditions due to the drug cartels and due to the heat." Watch the interview:

It is both funny and sad that Gov. Brewer, who mocked critics of her state's new immigration law for not having read the whole bill, has so clearly not read the State Department report that's got her so worked up she "can hardly get [her] words out."

First: the State Department put this report together as part of the U.N. Human Rights Council's Universal Periodic Review or UPR. The UPR is not a tribunal; even if the report did condemn Arizona's law, the Human Rights Council would have no authority over Arizona, and no power to modify American laws.

More importantly, Brewer misconstrues the report itself. The mention of Arizona's law amounts to three sentences out of 29 pages. Notably, those sentences do not include any condemnation of the law, attack on Arizona's motives in pursuing the law, or suggestion that SB 1070 is in any way comparable to human rights abuses in places like Libya. Indeed, the report knocks down that very charge elsewhere:

Some may say that by participating we acknowledge commonality with states that systematically abuse human rights. We do not. There is no comparison between American democracy and repressive regimes.

Brewer's problem is with paragraph 95 of the report:

A recent Arizona law, S.B. 1070, has generated significant attention and debate at home and around the world. The issue is being addressed in a court action that argues that the federal government has the authority to set and enforce immigration law. That action is ongoing; parts of the law are currently enjoined.

No condemnation. No accusations of human rights violations. Just an acknowledgment that the law "has generated significant attention and debate at home and around the world." Two of the paragraph's three sentences are about the legal process the United States is pursuing — a far cry from stealing Arizona's sovereignty and subjugating our legal system to the UN. In fact, the report's main theme is the incredible political system we have and the tools the Constitution gives us for perfecting our union peacefully over time:

Throughout our history, our citizens have used the freedoms provided in the Constitution as a foundation upon which to advocate for changes that would create a more just society. The Constitution provided the means for its own amelioration and revision: its glaring original flaw of tolerating slavery, as well as denying the vote to women, have both been corrected through constitutional reform, judicial review and our democratic processes.

Proud descriptions of the American system like the above appear throughout the report, and suggest America should be an example to the world.

If Gov. Brewer took the time to read the whole report she would know that.