he is actually one of the more conservative democrats, especially on social issues.
but it is really really hard to be respectful of anyone, GOP or democrat, conservative or liberal, if he has KKK ties
Had. Past tense. He joined in 1942 and was already publicly repudiating the Klan when he ran for the House in 1952.
Politics is full of people who did dumb stuff in their youth and became solid political citizens later in life. Former Nazis, communists, '60s student radicals, name it. In his 20s, Byrd went with the flow. Older, more confident, he saw the error of his ways.
I'm gonna guess that you're not a Southerner, because in the South we've pretty much gotten used to weighing that as a factor, but not a disqualifyong one. Different place and time. George Wallace was the most prominent face of segregation, but his last few elections in Alabama, he captured most of the black vote. Zell Miller's political career began when he was an aide to Lester Maddux.
Byrd's Klan past is good for chuckles, but don't confuse it with a substantive argument against the man he's been for at least the last half-century.