MT-Sen: Burns "humor" in action

Conrad Burns.

Republican Sen. Conrad Burns, who has gotten into hot water before for comments seen as disparaging various groups, joshingly remarked Thursday on the number of Italian-Americans at the Federal Aviation Administration.

The Montana senator, facing a tough re-election fight against Democrat Jon Tester, was heading an aviation subcommittee hearing of the Commerce Committee when two FAA officials, Michael Cirillo and Nicholas Sabatini, introduced themselves as witnesses.

"I'm wondering if that's all they're hiring," Burns said of the federal agency.

Burns campaign spokesman Jason Klindt said the senator was just kidding around with the two Italian-Americans [...]

Also during Thursday's hearing, Burns asked witness Matt Andersson, senior aviation consultant for CRA International, about the spelling of his name. Andersson said it's the Swedish spelling.

"Oh, ja," Burns replied in a mock Swedish accent.

Okay, I don't think this is necessarily bigotry or insensitivity. He's got plenty of that stuff under his belt. This ain't necessarily more of it.

But it's surely evidence that Burns has the absolute lamest sense of humor in Washington DC. I'm glad Montana will be upgrading with Tester.