K. K. K.

Theodore ("The Man") Bilbo was as full of answers as a Quiz Kid. On Mutual's Meet the Press program last week, the Senator from Mississippi chattered like an angry chipmunk, made one admission he might regret in a cooler moment.

Question: "Some of the Washington correspondents . . . voted you the worst man in the Senate. Do you agree with their opinion, sir?"

Bilbo: "I heard the story published in the press and made an investigation and found that it was absolutely untrue."

Question: "What do you have to say to [Senator Taft's] statement: 'There is no excuse for him and he is a disgrace to the Senate'?"

Bilbo: "Senatorial courtesy . . . forbids me from telling you what I think of some of my colleagues. . . . Senator Taft [seeks] to line up ... the pinks and the reds and the off-brand of the political life of America to further [his chances] for the presidency. . . . [He is] the blah blah blah of the Senate . . . a young mockingbird just out of his shell, all mouth and no bird at all."

Question: "Senator, are you ... a member of the Ku Klux Klan?"

Bilbo: "I am a member of the Ku Klux Klan No. 40, called Bilbo, Bilbo Klan No. 40, Mississippi. I attended one meeting and have not attended it since. . . ."

Question: "Do you think you would get any Klan support now?"

Bilbo: "I do."

Question: "You never left the Klan, in effect?"

Bilbo: "No man can ever leave the Klan. . . . Once a Ku Klux, always a Ku Klux."

And, some listeners reflected, once a Bilbo, always a Bilbo.

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