What would a serving US senator have to gain by joining the KKK?

[Nye Bevan]

The sheer enjoyment of putting on the robes? The social events? The strange rituals? Would any of this be even remotely worth the risk of being discovered; one photo, one audio recording, a couple of reformed KKKers going to the press, which would destroy the person's senatorial career, as opposed to simply serving as a Republican senator and having an infinitely greater ability to damage the cause of racial equality?

I believe that the "list" is bullshit and should be disregarded.

[temporary311]

1. Assuming they joined after they were elected

and weren't members before.

[Myrina]

2. ^^ this ^^

n/t

[KamaAina]

11. The way Robert Byrd was a member before

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Byrd

Robert Carlyle Byrd (born Cornelius Calvin Sale, Jr.; November 20, 1917 – June 28, 2010) was a United States Senator from West Virginia. A member of the Democratic Party, Byrd served as a U.S. Representative from 1953 until 1959 and as a U.S. Senator from 1959 to 2010....

In the early 1940s, Byrd recruited 150 of his friends and associates to create a new chapter of the Ku Klux Klan in Sophia, West Virginia.

[treestar]

3. You're making sense

Not much motive.

[Egnever]

4. I think you are probably right

However some of the congress critters are pretty dim bulbs. I am not entirely convinced many of them can think that far ahead.

Not to mention trump is killing it in the primaries and I am not sure a KKK member could say things much worse than what he is saying.

I could see congress people from heavily gerrymanderd districts in the south actually gaining support for being a Klansman.

You and I would see it as a negative but I am not convinced that would hold true in some districts.

[LanternWaste]

5. What would anyone have to gain by being a member?

What would anyone have to gain by being a member?

Ideological validation, among a host of other reasons... regardless of their profession.

[ChisolmTrailDem]

6. So, you poo-poo the "list" but in the process speculate the timing for their joining the KKK?

I believe your post is bullshit and should be disregarded.

[Oneironaut]

7. No, the point is, the "list" could easily be faked.

I believe the hack was real, but someone could just add names to the full data after the fact. There's no way to prove whether or not this is real (minus a confession, or other proof).

[ChisolmTrailDem]

8. I get that part. But the bullshit part of this OP is the speculation that "serving"...

...US senators "joining" the KKK.

Even I don't think the republidiots are so stupid as to do that.

[bowens43]

9. Probably a member long before they were elected, probably helped them get elected.

networking and all that.....

[Blus4u]

13. This makes more sense than the OP

Eom

Peace

[shraby]

10. Never, ever underestimate bigoted idiots.

[arcane1]

12. Hypothetically, the question is best asked in reverse:

What would a member of the KKK have to gain by serving in the US Senate?

[Throd]

14. I'd like to see this story vetted more thoroughly before I start flapping my arms.

[chalmers]

15. The Klan is a very power group

And being a member in certain locales can influence elections.

[Whiskeytide]

16. The only article I saw on this...

... said the politician's names were in the group/organization's "database". My first thought was that I'm not sure that means they had "joined" the KKK. I might be wrong, and need more information. But I could see klan groups having files on politicians considered both friends or foes - and every shade in between.

I'm just not sure it means anything yet.

[NCTraveler]

17. Depends what region of the country they are in.

Could get them a ten percent bounce in the polls in certain areas.

I also don't think many people will state their true feelings about Anonymous out of fear alone. There is a word for that.

[LiberalArkie]

18. What would they have to gain by joining the Rotary Club, NAACP, Masons or any organization

To be with and socialize with like minded people. To network with them.

[Rhumber]

19. Democratic mayor Madeline Rogero is being smeared as KKK member

http://www.wbir.com/story/news/2015/11/02/mayor-rogero-scoffs-claims-kkk-ties-calls-them-defamatory/75040018/

But some are just too excited about the list to be skeptical.