If congressional Republicans can win over the same electorate that voted for Barack Obama twice, then maybe one of Montana's most notorious white supremacists can drum up interest in his plan for a kindler, gentler Ku Klux Klan that welcomes minorities, Jews, and gays.

That's the plan, anyway, according to the Great Falls Tribune:

John Abarr of Great Falls claims he is a reformed man, which is why he's started a new KKK group called the Rocky Mountain Knights. Though he won't say exactly how many members this new KKK group has, the organization will not discriminate against people because of race, religion or sexual orientation.

"The KKK is for a strong America," Abarr said. "White supremacy is the old Klan. This is the new Klan."

... Abarr said his chapter of the KKK is a fraternal organization seeking members who want to fight against a "new world order" or a one-world government, which he is afraid the federal government is trying to achieve.

Members who join still would be required to wear the robes and hoods and participate in the secret rituals, but Abarr said the Rocky Mountain Knights will be an open and non-discriminatory group.

Abarr says he also wants to extend an olive branch to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, inviting the NAACP to a "peace summit" he plans for next year. "I don't feel we need to be separate," he told the Tribune.

Abarr reportedly paid $50 and joined the NAACP last year after a secret Wyoming meeting with them in his capacity as a representative of "The United Klans of America":

So far, Abarr's chief success has been in uniting the left and right against him. In addition to condemnation from the Montana Human Rights Network, his plan has other klansmen hopping mad.

"That man's going against everything the bylaws of the constitution of the KKK say," United Klans grand wizard Bradley Jenkins told the Tribune. "He's trying to hide behind the KKK to further his political career."

[Photo credit: AP Images]