What’s the first thing that jumps into your mind when you think “tea with the first lady of Arkansas”?

That’s right, heavy weaponry!

Via CNN: Mrs. Huckabee: 2-for-3 with a grenade launcher «

During an afternoon tea party at the elegant governor’s mansion in the capital of South Carolina, former Arkansas first lady Janet Huckabee told CNN she is pretty handy with a grenade launcher.

Huckabee, the wife of Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, said in an interview that she once shot a grenade launcher at a National Guard training camp in Arkansas.

“I have fired a grenade launcher and hit the target two out of three times, so I think that’s pretty good odds for me,” she said, noting that she had a special interest in military matters and has also jumped out of an airplane, flown in an F-16 and shot an MP5 submachine gun.

At least some of the experiences in question came as the result of a visit to a National Guard Training Camp. In all honesty, given the chance to give the ol’ grenade launcher a whirl under controlled conditions, I’d do it, too. As such, I can’t fault Mrs. Huckabee for taking the chance. Still, the juxtaposition between having tea and talking about grenade launchers and automatic weapons is rather jarring.

Of course, such discussions don’t exactly dispel the notion that perhaps there is a bit of hick in southern politicians. And really, didn’t Dukakis teach us the folly of mixing military equipment and presidential politics?

(And no, I am not into guns, having fired handguns all of once probably 15 or more years ago. Still, the occasional ’splosion has its place).

h/t: John Cole