Maxine Waters Defends Ex-Klansman, Attacks GOP'er as Racist Firebreathing California Congresswoman Maxine Waters angrily defended former Ku Klux Klansman Sen. Robert Byrd this week, saying that the one-time member of the cross burning, night-riding anti-black terror group was no more racist than her House colleague, Republican moderate Peter King. "Unfortunately we do have racism in the backgrounds of many members of Congress, past and present. And [King is] one of them," Waters complained Wednesday on MSNBC's "News with Brian Williams," as a stunned King looked on. "Wait, wait, Maxine. Whoa, whoa, Maxine. Let's end that right there," King shot back....