Good news from Missouri...Today's LA Times:

[CaliforniaPeggy]

This former Republican State Senator has left the Republican Party...

He is enormously frustrated with the social conservatives...

And he wasn't afraid to tell them either...

I have hope for our country, more than I did before...

More at link:

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

[Trajan]

1. Allow me to give DUers more ....

So they wont have to load another page, and pop up some lame ads ....

When moderates feel lost in the GOP

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

By Stephanie Simon
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

September 3, 2007

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.

-snip-


Im not sure who is lazier : threads posters who offer only a link and the barest hint, or those of us who prefer to NOT open every link offered .....

The jury is still out .... But I will accept criticism for disliking news posts without news ....

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. I have no problem with your posting this...

But I thought we weren't supposed to...

You know, copyright and all that... :shrug:

Believe me, I wasn't being lazy!

:hi:

[maseman]

3. LBN

As long as you follow the rules. News sources love places like DU because we get people to hit their link therefore hitting their sites. The more hist they get they can show advertisers and sell more banner ads.

As for the story...great post. I love when one converts. Not only did he convert but he traveled the state discussing why he converted.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

5. I thought it was more appropriate to post it here...

And I agree...

He really had a lot of courage not only to quit, but to openly discuss it!

As I said, it gives me hope!

[Ediacara]

4. The admins want you to keep it at about 4 paragraphs

Anything more than that gets into potentially troublesome copyright territory.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

6. My dear DinoBoy!

Right, I remember that...

That's why I posted the link instead of the story...

:hi:

[UrbScotty]

7. My dear CaliforniaPeggy!

Have you heard about the goings-on in Kansas?

The state Republicans are in such shambles that, IIRC, their Democratic Lieutenant Governor was actually once the chair of the state Republican Party but decided to switch parties a couple years ago!

[CaliforniaPeggy]

8. My dear ih8thegop!

Actually, I hadn't heard that!

That is great news!

Thanks for sharing it...

:hi: