A Missouri state senator abruptly declares himself a Democrat, angrily citing the influence of

[UpInArms]

A Missouri state senator abruptly declares himself a Democrat, angrily citing the influence of social conservatives.

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-koster3sep03,1,7404809.story?coll=la-news-a_section

RAYMORE, MO. -- Talk about a nasty divorce. In an announcement last month that left Missouri politicos agape, state Sen. Chris Koster, a rising Republican star and chairman of the Senate's GOP caucus, abruptly declared himself a Democrat.

Not only did Koster join the marginalized minority party in Missouri, but he did so with a thundering speech that lambasted his former colleagues as ignoring the needs of their constituents and slavishly following the dictates of "religious extremists."

The former prosecutor denounced several Republican positions he had once supported, such as steep cuts in Medicaid coverage and subsidized family-planning programs.

But Koster reserved his harshest criticism for GOP efforts to overturn a voter-approved constitutional amendment that protects embryonic stem-cell research in Missouri.

"The Republican desire is to criminalize early-stage stem-cell research in our state," Koster said in a speech he repeated three times as he hopscotched across the state. "Go to Boston for your Nobel Prize; come to Missouri for your leg irons. And the Missouri Republican Party not only tolerates this lunacy, but embraces it," Koster said.

...more...

[niyad]

1. so there is hope for at least some of them!

[rateyes]

2. I hope it's the start of a trend. nt

:kick: and R

[tblue37]

7. It is. In Kansas, our Lieutenant Gov. is a former moderate

Republican leader who switched to the Dem Party in our last election and ran on the Dem ticket with our very popular Dem governor, Kathleen Sebelius. Our current Attorney General, Paul Morrison, is another former moderate Republican leader who switched parties to run against (and defeat) wingnut Phill Kline (the man who gave the abortion records he'd subpoenaed as AG to FOX News/Bill O'Reilley).

The Republican Party, which is controlled by wingnuts here, then tried to push through a party policy that would allow them to severely punish any Republican member who did not completely toe the party line on all issues. There are so many moderate Republicans in Kansas who are appalled at their wingnut leadership that the leadership is looking for ways to browbeat them into staying on the reservation. The reality is that Kansas is actually a 3=party state, even though two of the parties call themselves Republican. Bit by bit, though, the moderate Republicans are driven out of the Republican small tent and into our welcomign Democratic arms.

BTW, even Nancy Boyda, the Dem who defeated well-known wingnut Jim Ryan, was originally a Republican.

[BearSquirrel2]

27. Conscious + Practicality = Party Switch ...

I think there are a lot of Republicans out there who genuinely wish to turn there party around. Then at some point they realize that the effort is hopeless as their colleagues are a bunch of mindless knuckle-draggers who are puppets of special interests. At this point they're looking around and seeing how unpopular the GOP is becoming and realizing that this is the right time to jump ship.

[tridim]

8. It won't matter as long as the voters remain uninformed.

So, let's hope the trend is voters switching parties and not just politicians.

[Inkyfuzzbottom]

3. Cool

He is the former prosecutor in my county. Good to see he finally woke up. Go Koster. Besides, he is way too good looking to be a Republican.

[proud2BlibKansan]

18. He really is easy on the eyes!

Welcome to DU :hi:

[presspeal]

38. Really...

doesn't do any thing for me.:silly:
Although I'm glad he switched.

[Ian_rd]

46. Hmmm. My gaydar goes off a little with that picture.

Not that it matters. Hehe. Anyway, I know nothing of his politics, but I hope his switch is good for MO.

[TechBear_Seattle]

4. Off to the Greatest page with you!

Glad to recommend.

[rodeodance]

5. deserves one more REC.

[seafan]

6. There is hope after all!

When moderates feel lost in the GOP (Subscription req'd)

By Stephanie Simon, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
September 3, 2007

In an announcement last month that left Missouri politicos agape, state Sen. Chris Koster, a rising Republican star and chairman of the Senate's GOP caucus, abruptly declared himself a Democrat.
Not only did Koster join the marginalized minority party in Missouri, but he did so with a thundering speech that lambasted his former colleagues as ignoring the needs of their constituents and slavishly following the dictates of "religious extremists."
The former prosecutor denounced several Republican positions he had once supported, such as steep cuts in Medicaid coverage and subsidized family-planning programs.

But Koster reserved his harshest criticism for GOP efforts to overturn a voter-approved constitutional amendment that protects embryonic stem-cell research in Missouri.
"The Republican desire is to criminalize early-stage stem-cell research in our state," Koster said in a speech he repeated three times as he hopscotched across the state. "Go to Boston for your Nobel Prize; come to Missouri for your leg irons. And the Missouri Republican Party not only tolerates this lunacy, but embraces it," Koster said. .....
Missouri elder statesman and former U.S. Sen. John C. Danforth last year wrote a book on the subject. "Faith in Politics" called on the GOP to shake free of the religious right. Danforth is now trying to translate those words into action by leading a national coalition of GOP moderates called the Republican Leadership Council. ..... But after three years of feeling out of sync with his own party, Koster, 42, said he couldn't take it any longer.

The final straw, he said, came this spring when his colleagues overturned a state law requiring public schools to give students comprehensive, medically accurate information on sexually transmitted diseases and birth control. Districts may now focus exclusively on abstinence.
"I knew at that moment," Koster said. "For me, leaving was the right, the moral thing to do."

.....

These critics see Koster's switch as opportunism, a way to bolster his expected candidacy for state attorney general in 2008 -- a year many pundits expect will be good for Democrats across the board.
"Any time you jump to the other side of the ship to make a gain and leave your friends behind. . . it's hard to respect someone like that," said Tom Circo, 54. A Republican, Circo sells insurance here in Raymore, a town of 16,000 in Koster's western Missouri district, which stretches from the suburbs of Kansas City into farmland.

Koster responds that he jumped from the fourth-ranking GOP position in the state Senate -- with a cushy office and a chance at a still-higher leadership role -- to become the lowest-ranking Democrat in the state Senate. He will face stiff competition in the Democratic primary for attorney general. The governor, a Republican, has urged him to resign his Senate seat.
He's hated by many on the right, distrusted by more than a few on the left. And to top it all off, he has opened himself to charges of flip-flopping not only on party affiliation but on key positions. When he made the switch, he announced he was no longer "pro-life" but would henceforth support legal abortion.

So if he was trying for political gain, Koster jokes, he pretty well botched it.

John Willis, 73, disagrees.
A voter in Koster's district, he said he didn't believe in blind loyalty to either party -- and he was glad to have a state senator who apparently felt the same.
"If he has the guts to do that, he must believe in it," Willis said. "And that's what we want in our politicians, isn't it? People with the guts to stand up for what they believe in."

Welcome home, Missouri State Senator Chris Koster, Democrat-District 31, to the party of The People,.

[GMFORD]

22. I sent him

an email welcoming him.

[seafan]

29. Wonderful move! Welcome to DU, by the way. n/t

[alfredo]

9. good for him.

[Control-Z]

10. Happy to k&r

I'll take the moderate who is bright enough to finally step over.


The final straw, he said, came this spring when his colleagues overturned a state law requiring public schools to give students comprehensive, medically accurate information on sexually transmitted diseases and birth control. Districts may now focus exclusively on abstinence.

"I knew at that moment," Koster said. "For me, leaving was the right, the moral thing to do."

[ptolle]

28. not only

Not only leaving the embrace of the wingnuts, but pointing out the harmful effects of their moralistic hypocrisy.Of course, most of the truly confirmed wingnuts are tone deaf to the kind of admonition this courageous gentleman delivered.He'll be reviled by the thumpers and jumpers and they'll pray for his soul and that he recognize the error of his ways but they'll not alter their beliefs one bit.

[sarcasmo]

11. Kick, great story.

[Greyskye]

12. "and so it begins"

with a 20th :kick:

[Pacifist Patriot]

13. I have actually had dreams of party moles.

True progressives who sucked at the state Republican party teat just long enough to get in a position to do just this kind of damage. Not that I'm saying this is what Koster did. Just that I've had dreams about it.

[bjobotts]

14. People are sick of the "religious reich's" influece on social programs.

Both dems and repubs are watching realities being replaced by theocratic ideology. "Just abstain from sex and you don't have to know about sexually transmitted diseases do you?" "Stay or get married and poverty will disappear". "Pray for illness to be removed and if it isn't then God meant for you to have it". In MO they are cutting all medicaid programs, except for children, cutting housing programs. These people are actually encouraging poverty and disease and taking back 50 yrs. of progress in dealing with poverty. There is no reason for Koster to change parties except for seeing the hypocrisy of the religious party who want to do away with all social programs using the money to increase their business positions. They take hypocrisy to a whole new level, professing to care religiously while doing away with the very programs that aid the poor, elderly, and sick. More and more it has become so blatant that those who oppose it have only so far been trying to ignore it to avoid dealing with the "condemnation" of these religious bigots. But in good conscience, it long past time to be confronting these theocratic intrusions on our social programs.

[progressoid]

15. On the other hand...

this shows how far to the right the country has gone. When "moderate" Republicans can find sanctuary in the Democratic party, that doesn't bode well for those of us that are actually liberal.

http://www.politicalcompass.org/index

[yardwork]

25. Look at all those people in the Authoritarian Right corner!

Ugh. When I took that test I scored way down in the lower left corner, next to Gandhi. So many people like me in this country - and so few "representatives" for us in government.

[progressoid]

31. Yeah, me too.

I was worried that I might slide to the center as I grew older. Turns out, I stayed relatively liberal while my country shifted to the upper right. Grrrr.

[connecticut yankee]

37. I was close to the Dalai Lama

[rAVES]

40. Holy Crap..

Economic Left/Right: -6.50
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -7.64

[gaspee]

42. yeah, my reaction too

Your political compass
Economic Left/Right: -9.38
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -8.21

I was in the very far lower left hand corner - practically off the map -- guess I'm one of those radicals we hear so much about. Go figure!

[yardwork]

43. I know. And I don't consider myself to be radical - just reasonable!

It's pathetic how far to the right our supposed "representatives" have gone.

[gaspee]

44. I didn't think

I was especially radical -- kind of funny, but not really!

[awoke_in_2003]

49. "guess I'm one of those radicals"

Don't worry, I'll keep you company when they take us away: Economic Left/Right: -9.88, Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -8.67

[RayOfHope]

16. He was pissed b/c there was a stem cell research institute near his district

and the area stands to lose quite a bit of money if they relocate (Stowers Institute).

Time will tell if he's sincere.

[proud2BlibKansan]

17. Only one teensy little problem with this

Koster has announced he wants to run for state AG. There is already a Dem candidate. So a nasty primary looms. He needs to stay in the state senate, where we need to gain a Dem majority. He would have a much greater impact if he did that.

[bahrbearian]

19. I guess he just wants to get re-elected.

[snake in the grass]

20. on our newly won Democrats

The interesting thing for me about this story is that it tends to support a suspicion I've had for several years; this being that it will most likely be a Republican who ends up saving the day. For all of their dangerous backwardness and, often times, artificial stubbornness, when one of their own makes their mind up about an issue, they are consequent. Neither their peers nor members of the opposition can intimidate them and these people follow through. Occasionally, albeit rarely, some of them even get it right.

I so sincerely regret that, for the most part, our own party leaders lack the fortitude to muster up enough courage to actually do something and not just talk about it (and this in spite of an overwhelming support by a sane majority).

It is often said that converts tend to be zealots. Let us hope that this new Democrat and those like him can be an example to other party members who are in a position to actually change something. It really is time for many in the Democratic leadership to speed up the funding to stem cell research so that they can finally get that so needed, colour-coordinated, and genetically designed spinal cord. Hell we could even throw in a toaster that tells the weather!

Immediately thereafter they could start putting their money where their mouths are.

[Demoiselle]

21. Dems a "Marginalized minority party in Missouri.." Say what?

Didn't the Dems just elect Claire whatsername to the senate?I thought Missouri was
more evenly divided than that...Blue Dog Dems, sure, but still Dems.
Anyway...hooray.

[Alcibiades]

50. You're right, it's about even

I'm not from Missouri, but used to teach political science at a university there. Anyway, It's Claire McCaskill, and she's pretty popular, from a political family and a good career in state government. She was a quality candidate, so it's not surprising she was elected.

Missouri is a majority Democratic state. I wouldn't say it's all down to the "blue dogs," either. Don't forget that the state as a whole is 11% black, St. Louis and Kansas City have many people in the educated professional demographic that has trended increasingly Democratic, and the state has good strong unions. Overall, the breakdown (in 2006) was 29% Rep., 33% Dem and 26% Ind. The problem is that some of the Dems and Independents have been voting Republican. The state should be very close either way in 2008.

Just hazarding a guess, one could say that Democrats are a marginalized minority party in Missouri, but that's only if you consider the state legislature, which is majority Republican, due to the built-in bias in favor of rural areas built into the single-member district system of representation. By any other measure, the state is, as you rightly say, pretty evenly divided.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

23. It is refreshing to hear of an enlightened stance...

perhaps a portent of things to come.

[Maraya1969]

24. I want to email him and welcome him to the bright side.

Some schools have been given the right to stop sex education completely in favor of teaching abstinence. How incredibly ignorant. Thank God there are still some Republicans with triple digit IQ's.

[Maryland Liberal]

26. I know that most DUers dont want to hear this...

But -I have felt this way for a LONG time = We should do away with the 2 party system = because TOO MANY politicos feel pressure from their party to vote against their conscience.

[Arugula Latte]

30. Um, this party has been pandering to batshit crazy fundies since Reagan.

What took him so long?

[whistle]

32. I guess when the koolaid IVs are abruptly pulled out for some sanity does return

...Welcome to the democratic party Senator Koster :kick:

[orleans]

33. as randi rhodes would say: thank you for being a REAL man. n/t

[historian]

34. so..............

does that leave us with a 2 person majority in the senate?

[TommyO]

35. He's a state senator, not a U.S. senator

[rpannier]

36. I like that quote...I'm gonna have it made into a bumper sticker for my car

"Go to Boston for your Nobel Prize; come to Missouri for your leg irons."

[lonestarnot]

39. That's nice.

[Daveparts]

41. Rats

deserting a sinking ship.

[redqueen]

45. See, not all republicans are irredeemably ignorant or batshit insane.

It's nearly enough to gives one a glimmer of hope, even.

[wryter2000]

47. Good for him!

I can't help but feel that we'd be better off if his type took back the Republican party, but I still have to applaud him.

[amb123]

48. Now that's what I call an Epiphany.

Real Christians support Church/State Separation.

BTW: K & R

[TexasBushwhacker]

51. Quote from his website ....

"There is a better contest than the battle between Democrats and Republicans. It is the contest between those who reach for progress and those who resist progress. The contest between those who roll up their sleeves and those who sit on their hands. Now that is a better fight."

Chris Koster,
Opening of Cass County Justice Center,
August 16, 2003

**************************************

Sounds to me like maybe he was always a Democrat. I'm glad he finally figured it out.


http://chriskoster.com/

[RiverStone]

52. as the Right moves to the extreme

Maybe we will see more rethug defections.

Kudo's to Koster who sounded like he put personal principles ahead of power. Lets hope he inspires more rational thought among his (former) rethug brethren.

Better late then never! :applause: