Senator Loves Lucy, Evokes Ricky Ricardo

Tom Coburn to Supreme Court Nominee Sonia Sotomayor: "You'll Have Lots of 'Splainin' to Do"

(AP)  One of Sonia Sotomayor's Senate interrogators had a joking response Wednesday when she talked hypothetically - and humorously - about getting a gun to shoot him in self-defense.

"You'll have lots of 'splainin' to do," replied GOP Sen. Tom Coburn, evoking the 1950s TV show "I Love Lucy" to laughter from the crowd and the judge.

"I'd be in a lot of trouble, then," Sotomayor quipped back.

What Coburn said - and how he said it - was a riff on a Hispanic television character, Ricky Ricardo, whose accent is now widely considered a broad parody.

In the show, the Cuban American bandleader Ricardo (played by Desi Arnaz) would often admonish his scatterbrained wife, Lucy, by saying she's got some "'splainin"' to do. The phrase, "Lucy, you got some 'splainin' to do," has since become part of the popular culture.

Yvette Melendez, a Glastonbury, Conn., woman attending Sotomayor's confirmation hearing to be the Supreme Court's first Hispanic justice, said she winced inwardly when Coburn made his comment but did not feel offended.

"I personally did not think it was appropriate," she said. "But I'm sure he said it as a joke."

The National Council of La Raza responded to an e-mail inquiring about Coburn's remark, saying it was unclear whether it was a badly told joke "or he's just clueless."

"While quoting Ricky Ricardo isn't in and of itself a slur, in this context, it seems wildly inappropriate to say the least," said the group's spokeswoman, Lisa Navarrete.

Coburn's spokesman, John Hart, said Coburn was responding in kind to Sotomayor's lighthearted manner, talking hypothetically about a serious issue, the right to self-defense and the Second Amendment.

"If Judge Sotomayor was offended by Dr. Coburn's lighthearted response, I'm sure Dr. Coburn will apologize to her," Hart said.

[stn_sage]

Last week, we find out "Doctor" Coburn was responsible for advising his fellow Christian Conservative 'family values' Republican peer, to pay 'hush money' to the woman he was having an adulterous affair with and/or her husband!

This week, he's making 'jokes'(?) about Latinos/Latinas while questioning a prospective judge for the Supreme Court?! Maybe, he was kidding, maybe not! HOW do WE know?!

In any event, BOTH these acts show incredible STUPIDITY and lack of sensitivity on his part!

That's at least two strikes! I wonder what he's got planned for NEXT week?! Anyway, I hope it's real BIG! So, the voters decide it's time to send him back to Oklahoma!

[Benton09]

In Oklahoma, 'I Love Lucy' is still a new show...he's just trying to be hip and up to date with the Okies!

[stuart2020]

So what. This guy said 'You got some 'splain' to do". That is no more racist than what Sotomayer said about a wise Latino woman.