Tom Coburn may have just overtaken Jeff Sessions in the category of awkward racial moments. Coburn was asking Sotomayor whether Americans have a fundamental right to self-defense, and Sotomayor set up a hypothetical in which she used the phrase, "If I go home, get a gun, and shoot you -- that might not be legal under New York law." The room erupted in laughter, and Sotomayor said, "I'd be in trouble."
Coburn responded, "You'd have a lot of splainin' to do."
As in, the catch phrase used by Cuban actor Desi Arnaz in I Love Lucy.
Coburn may have some "splainin'" to do himself.
UPDATE: I should add this caveat. I don't have TiVo so I'm not able to review the exchange, it's possible I heard wrong. I'm sure someone will have video up soon, and when they do, I'll post it here.
UPDATE II: Here's the video from Political Carnival:
Really pretty astonishing. Imagine if Democrats had peppered Scalia and Alito with quotes from The Godfather.
-- A. Serwer
