World Net Daily (WND), a conservative website which pushes birther fantasies and other conspiracies, announced on Sunday that it had hired former Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum “to offer exclusive opinion each Monday.”

“Rick Santorum – the former U.S. senator who ignited grass-roots conservatives as a Republican candidate for president this year – today joins WND as an exclusive columnist,” the publication announced in a statement on Sunday.

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“During his run for president, Santorum spoke about his belief that strong families help produce a strong economy,” the statement noted. “He shared his views that opportunities for all Americans must be expanded by encouraging incentives for marriage, children and free enterprise.”

In keeping with the WND tradition of promoting various fringe conspiracies, Santorum’s debut column claimed that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has an objective of “ceding our sovereignty to the United Nations.”

Santorum warned that a United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities treaty adopted in 2006 “has much darker and more troubling implications” than to simply improve the treatment of disabled people in other countries.

The staunchly anti-abortion Republican worried that the treaty would “put the government, acting under U.N. authority, in the position to determine for all children with disabilities what is best for them.”

And taking that thought to its absurd conclusion, Santorum suggested that the U.N. treaty would have meant the death of his daughter, who has a rare genetic disorder.

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“In the case of our 4-year-old daughter, Bella, who has Trisomy 18, a condition that the medical literature says is ‘incompatible with life,’ would her ‘best interest’ be that she be allowed to die?” he asked.

“Some would undoubtedly say so.”

[Photo credit: Gage Skidmore]