For several decades now there have been rumors and dark jokes about the so-called “Clinton body count,” a conspiratorial catch-all for the fact that dozens of people connected to the Clintons over the years have turned up dead in suspicious accidents and suicides.
Republican Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake humorously made reference to that this week when she insisted that she was “not suicidal” after facing particular criticism from failed 2016 Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, the Washington Examiner reported.
“I’m not suicidal”
It was on Thursday that Lake appeared on Fox News with host Sean Hannity and made the quip about the alleged trail of bodies in the wake of the Clinton family’s political careers.
“I was a little concerned today, I’m gonna be honest, when I saw Hillary Clinton badmouthing me, and she looked angry and actually scared,” Lake said.
“And just completely unrelated, I want you to know, just in case you’re wondering — I’m in perfect health, my brakes on my car are in good shape, and I’m not suicidal, and we’re gonna win this thing on Tuesday,” she added to audible chuckling from Hannity.
ATTN: @HillaryClinton 👀
I’m in perfect health, my brakes on my car are in good shape & I’m not suicidal. That is all. pic.twitter.com/ke7qVxz7bF
— Kari Lake (@KariLake) November 4, 2022
Clinton highlights Lake for criticism
Earlier that day, the former Secretary of State Clinton had appeared on CNN and predictably trashed Republicans and accused them of overplaying the crime issue in order to simply scare voters.
She also asserted that Republicans had not been sufficiently aggrieved by the recent physical assault of Paul Pelosi, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) husband, and took specific aim at Lake, albeit without directly naming her, for allegedly making jokes about that attack on Pelosi’s husband.
Clinton said the GOP response to the Pelosi incident was “sadly a real indicator of where we are in our country right now that you would have people on the Republican ticket, like the woman running in Arizona, laughing about an attack on anyone, let alone an 82-year-old man whose wife happens to be second in line to the presidency.”
According to the Examiner, Lake hadn’t really joked about or laughed off the violent attack against Pelosi, but rather had simply made the accurate observation that “Nancy Pelosi, well, she’s got protection when she’s in D.C. — apparently, her house doesn’t have a lot of protection.”
Lake leads the polls, is projected to win
As for Lake’s assertion to Hannity that Clinton was “angry” and “scared” due to the apparent likelihood that Lake would win the governor’s race in Arizona, there may be some element of truth in that regard.
According to the RealClearPolitics average of polls in that contest, Lake leads her Democratic opponent, Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, by just shy of two points, and though RCP has ranked the race as a “toss-up,” it has projected Lake to ultimately be victorious.