Harry Reid and the rest of the senate appear to be backing away from their "Burris won't get the seat" hard-line after several days of Burris supporters accusing people opposing the appointment of trying to lynch a black man (in a manner of speaking). Burris hasn't been cleared yet since the Illinois Secretary of State refused to sign his appointment letter, but once that hurdle is cleared it's looking likely that Burris will have Obama's seat.

Once he's seated, how awkward will those early conversations between Burris and his fellow senators turn out to be? Considering they threatened to block him from the seat, and all anyone could talk about was the "taint of corruption" on any appointment by Blago, probably a little awkward. To help our Senators through it, we've created this handy "Chatting with Roland Burris"-o-tron, containing all the icebreaking awkward silence fillers a Senator talking to Roland Burris might need.

Hey Roland! Welcome to Washington.

Really glad you finally won that battle
stubbornly refused to back down
made it racial and got the seat. Sorry about the whole threatening to block you at all costs
locking the doors and pretending we weren't home
putting a "for sale" sign on your chair on your first day
thing. I guess we over-reacted when the guy charged with selling a senate appointment made a senate appointment
one of our senators was in danger of having no credibility whatsoever
something that obviously shouldn't happen was about to happen. Oh wait, no we didn't. By the way, do you think you could
move your cloud of corruption to the left? It's blocking my light.
stop it with the "Lord ordained this" crap? Blago's gonna think you're talking about him.
not get indicted? That'd be swell! Oh and just out of curiosity, when a Governor charged with trying to sell a senate seat offered you a senate seat and you said yes, were you looking forward to hearing your name followed by the word "taint" in newscasts?
were you thinking, "I'm sick of my impeccable reputation?"
were you high? Just wondering. Anyway, it's going to be a lot of fun working with you Roland, seeing as you made us all look like backpedaling a-holes.
you come so highly recommended.
you don't seem combative in the slightest. Now keep your taint out of my sight, I'm trying to eat lunch.

Posted by: Bob Powers      I’m a fan of Bob Powers