# Anonymous outs pols as KKK members **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [November 2, 2015, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anonymous-outs-pols-as-kkk-members/736447 "2015-11-02T18:23:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2015, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anonymous-outs-pols-as-kkk-members/736447/41 "2015-11-06T01:45:54Z")
The real list is now out. I was actually surprised no one had brought it up yet, seeing as the thread was revived today. > **[Anonymous posts Ku Klux Klan alleged sympathisers list](https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-34736941)** > > The hacktivist group Anonymous releases details of hundreds of alleged sympathisers of the Ku Klux Klan. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2015, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anonymous-outs-pols-as-kkk-members/736447/42 "2015-11-08T00:07:49Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > So now for all we know this was some kind of False Confederate Flag attack. 4/10. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2015, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anonymous-outs-pols-as-kkk-members/736447/43 "2015-11-08T00:09:50Z")
So, I guess the official US membership is on a list somewhere? I thought that the Klans were localized and autonomous. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2015, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anonymous-outs-pols-as-kkk-members/736447/44 "2015-11-08T00:10:52Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Sounds like the most boring clickbait ever. > > NINE POLITICIANS WHO ARE SECRET MEMBERS OF THE KKK > (Number 4 will totally blow your mind!) I’m loving it! You must have one weird trick to keep being so witty! ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2015, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anonymous-outs-pols-as-kkk-members/736447/45 "2015-11-08T00:12:37Z")
> [@handsomeharry](#): > > So, I guess the official US membership is on a list somewhere? > > I thought that the Klans were localized and autonomous. Nah, it’s all centralized. Politicians send in personal checks to pay their dues, and never once stop to consider whether Klan membership might have any negativecrepercussions. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2015, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anonymous-outs-pols-as-kkk-members/736447/46 "2015-11-08T14:29:09Z")
So, a whole bunch of nothin’. That’s actually a good thing. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2015, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anonymous-outs-pols-as-kkk-members/736447/47 "2015-11-09T20:06:03Z")
Years ago it was quite plausible that politicians of significant importance would be KKK members. Once upon a time the KKK was an organization of some influence and importance. Today the idea is ludicrous on its face and should have been assumed to be total bullshit. The KKK is like the Aryan Nation, a loose group of, basically, losers, who’re drawn to such groups because it fulfills their needs for both importance and externalization of blame for their loser status. A successful person wouldn’t join the KKK today even if they were a worse racist than Jefferson Davis. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2015, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anonymous-outs-pols-as-kkk-members/736447/48 "2015-11-09T20:22:50Z")
The KKK itself is essentially a thing of the past, but don’t underestimate the numbers of people down here who are still sympathetic to those attitudes even today. You can, I trust, hear the dogwhistles every campaign season. You can certainly the Confederate flags and comments about assassinating Obama. Yes, they’re prevalent, and they’re a voting bloc. More recently, the Council of Conservative Citizens has taken over the Klan’s former political role ), although they’ve mostly dispensed with the robes and lynchings and cross-burnings. You may recall Trent Lott, very recently the Senate Majority Leader, having been closely connected with them. Would he have been elected without the support of the CCC, AKA the robeless KKK? He obviously didn’t think so. And he’s not alone, not by far. While it’s true that you’ll probably not find more than a handful of pols even at the lowest level who are or have been actual Klan members, that’s mainly because there isn’t much of a Klan left to join today - _under that name_. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2015, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anonymous-outs-pols-as-kkk-members/736447/49 "2015-11-09T20:28:52Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > I’d have to see some corroborating evidence. A list of names doesn’t prove anything, or even point to anything. In a Senate race against a pig farmer, LBJ told one of his Aides, “Let’s tell the voters that my opponent has sex with his pigs.” “That is ridiculous, Sir. No one will believe it!” "I know, Son, but Let’s make him deny it.’ ---
**Author:** ![lance\_strongarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@lance\_strongarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lance_strongarm)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2015, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anonymous-outs-pols-as-kkk-members/736447/50 "2015-11-09T20:48:10Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > In a Senate race against a pig farmer, LBJ told one of his Aides, “Let’s tell the voters that my opponent has sex with his pigs.” > “That is ridiculous, Sir. No one will believe it!” > "I know, Son, but Let’s make him deny it.’ The “let them deny it” thing is actually quite common in strategy circles. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2015, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anonymous-outs-pols-as-kkk-members/736447/51 "2015-11-09T21:05:14Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Everyone from North Carolina who is shocked at Tom Tillis’s alleged association, raise your hands. I’m feeling kind of shitty about this. Tillis is a terrible politician IMO, who’s done a lot of harm to my state, and I’m very unhappy with him for many of his policies, and I think he’s entirely too much in bed with corporate interests (he was ALEC’s [State Legislator of the Year](http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/North_Carolina_ALEC_Politicians) in 2011). And I think his policies are disproportionately harmful to North Carolina’s nonwhite citizens, and I suspect he knows that and doesn’t much care. But that’s no excuse for me to have jumped on board with this allegation in the way I did. It was intellectually lazy and unfair to him, and I apologize. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2015, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anonymous-outs-pols-as-kkk-members/736447/52 "2015-11-09T21:05:45Z")
> [@lance\_strongarm](#): > > The “let them deny it” thing is actually quite common in strategy circles. One can understand. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2015, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anonymous-outs-pols-as-kkk-members/736447/53 "2015-11-09T21:15:49Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > But that’s no excuse for me to have jumped on board with this allegation in the way I did. It was intellectually lazy and unfair to him, and I apologize. Good man. 🙂 It annoys me that this group can stage denial of service attacks and make acquisitions of that sort without identifying themselves. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2015, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anonymous-outs-pols-as-kkk-members/736447/54 "2015-11-09T21:21:46Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Good man. 🙂 > > It annoys me that this group can stage denial of service attacks and make acquisitions of that sort without identifying themselves. But it seems that it really wasn’t the “real” Anonymous. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2015, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anonymous-outs-pols-as-kkk-members/736447/55 "2015-11-09T21:24:44Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > I’m feeling kind of shitty about this. Tillis is a terrible politician IMO, who’s done a lot of harm to my state, and I’m very unhappy with him for many of his policies, and I think he’s entirely too much in bed with corporate interests (he was ALEC’s [State Legislator of the Year](http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/North_Carolina_ALEC_Politicians) in 2011). And I think his policies are disproportionately harmful to North Carolina’s nonwhite citizens, and I suspect he knows that and doesn’t much care. > > But that’s no excuse for me to have jumped on board with this allegation in the way I did. It was intellectually lazy and unfair to him, and I apologize. Well done! Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![davida03801](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5e925/32.png) [@davida03801](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davida03801)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2015, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anonymous-outs-pols-as-kkk-members/736447/56 "2015-11-10T23:04:32Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > No, all the old racist Democrats switched parties in the 60s and 70s. Do try to keep up. Au contraire. Dems love slavery and keeping everyone down but the master class. Back in the day you were the party that supported actual real slavery. You do now. The means and methods changed, the concept the same. Leopards, and dems, don’t change their spots. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2015, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anonymous-outs-pols-as-kkk-members/736447/57 "2015-11-10T23:08:19Z")
> [@davida03801](#): > > Au contraire. > > Dems love slavery and keeping everyone down but the master class. Back in the day you were the party that supported actual real slavery. You do now. The means and methods changed, the concept the same. > > Leopards, and dems, don’t change their spots. LOL – and black people are dupes, right? They can’t think for themselves, or are they just not smart enough? I’ll go ahead and trust most black people that they really are smart enough to make a reasonable decision on which party better represents their interests. When the Democrats were the racist party, black people mostly supported Republicans. Things changed with Civil Rights, in a major way, and now most black people support the Democratic party. I don’t believe that black people have changed – they’re just as smart now as they were in the past. ---
**Author:** ![Nelson\_Pike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Nelson\_Pike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nelson_Pike)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2015, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anonymous-outs-pols-as-kkk-members/736447/58 "2015-11-10T23:33:07Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Everyone from North Carolina who is shocked at Tom Tillis’s alleged association, raise your hands (after using the toilet). I am from North Carolina, I voted for Obama twice and Hagan twice, and I think Tillis is a world recordasshole (see this disgusting proof of what anasshole he is:[Senator says restaurant employees shouldn’t be required to wash their hands (after using the toilet)](https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/in-the-loop/wp/2015/02/03/the-next-public-health-debate-hand-washing/): > [@](#): > > Tillis said he was at a Starbucks in 2010 talking to a woman about regulations and where businesses should be allowed to opt out. His coffee companion challenged him, asking whether employees there should be required to wash their hands. > > “As a matter of fact I think this is one where I think I can illustrate the point,” he recalled telling her. “I don’t have any problem with Starbucks if they choose to opt out of this policy as long as they post a sign that says we don’t require our employees to wash their hands after leaving the restroom. The market will take care of that. It’s one example.” (Is requiring a sign not a regulation?) > > Tillis, who told the story with his right hand raised for emphasis, concluded that in his example most businesses who posted signs telling customers their food workers didn’t have to wash their hands would likely go out of business. Ah, the free market! Nevertheless I am shocked to hear of Tillis’ alleged association with the KKK, and I take personally any smartass implication that I should not be shocked. If such an association had been reasonably well established before Election Day I do not think Tillis would have won. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2015, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anonymous-outs-pols-as-kkk-members/736447/59 "2015-11-11T01:09:20Z")
Even assuming there are Republican pols racist enough to share the Klan’s philosophy, what possible benefit could any politician expect to receive from joining the Klan in this day and age? Even a true racist today is smart and cynical enough to keep his name off potentially embarrassing mailing lists. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2015, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anonymous-outs-pols-as-kkk-members/736447/60 "2015-11-11T01:18:59Z")
> [@Nelson\_Pike](#): > > I am from North Carolina, I voted for Obama twice and Hagan twice, and I think Tillis is a world recordasshole (see this disgusting proof of what anasshole he is:[Senator says restaurant employees shouldn’t be required to wash their hands (after using the toilet)](https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/in-the-loop/wp/2015/02/03/the-next-public-health-debate-hand-washing/): > > Nevertheless I am shocked to hear of Tillis’ alleged association with the KKK Actually, the whole thing was a misunderstanding: the “KKK” to which Tillis belongs is another organization altogether, the Kholera Kultivation Kouncil. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anonymous-outs-pols-as-kkk-members/736447.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anonymous-outs-pols-as-kkk-members/736447.md?page=4)