Oklahoma senator uses throwback 'I Love Lucy' reference

Sen. Tom Coburn sure showed his age " 61! " when he resurrected a catchphrase from "I Love Lucy" during the July 15 confirmation hearing of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor.

"You'll have lots of 'splainin' to do," he said, in his best (read: not so hot; stick to medicine and legislation) Ricky Ricardo impersonation. The paraphrasing of "Lucy, you have some 'splainin' to do" occurred when the two discussed a hypothetical self-defense scenario, according to transcripts from The Washington Post.

Normally, such a comment wouldn't resonate beyond those falling asleep at the C-SPAN feed, but given that Ricardo was played by Desi Arnaz, a Cuban, and Sotomayor is of Puerto Rican descent, some found the remark racist.

CFN just thinks he needs more contemporary pop-culture references. For example, on the same day, when Sotomayor said, "rise before the court," would it have killed Coburn to throw in a "that's what she said"?

Newly minted Sen. Al Franken also dug deep into TV yesteryear " but at least was funnier " when he asked Sotomayor to name the one case Perry Mason didn't win. She didn't know.

Neither do we. Because we're not that old. Perry Mason " he's that guy from "Airplane II," right?

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