--- title: Mike Huckabee Trolls Hillary and Bill Clinton to Tap Republican Id description: The former Arkansas Governor says he "lived to tell about” opposing the Clinton machine. It was a nod to conspiracy theorists. canonical: https://time.com/3968968/hillary-clinton-mike-huckabee/ author: Philip Elliott article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-07-23T17:47:45.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:47:57.280Z article:section: Politics og:title: Huckabee Trolls Clintons, Saying He's Rare Critic to Survive og:description: Former Governor released Web video that nods to debunked rumors from '90s og:url: https://time.com/3968968/hillary-clinton-mike-huckabee/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt47741e1a84d306b0/6987ee7b3c16390c9a455dec/2016-presidential-campaign-launch-mike-huckabee.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1952 og:image:height: 1098 og:image:alt: Mike Huckabee Presidential Campaign Launch og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Huckabee Trolls Clintons, Saying He's Rare Critic to Survive twitter:description: Former Governor released Web video that nods to debunked rumors from '90s twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt47741e1a84d306b0/6987ee7b3c16390c9a455dec/2016-presidential-campaign-launch-mike-huckabee.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Mike Huckabee Trolls Hillary and Bill Clinton to Tap Republican Id > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME D.C. Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition D.C. Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington. D.C. Brief goes beyond the Washington headlines to explain the politics, personalities and power dynamics shaping what happens next. Senior correspondent Philip Elliott brings sharp context to the issues driving the capital, connecting the decisions made in Washington to the institutions, industries and people they affect. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Hillary Clinton's Top 10 Political Moments [Watch (HLS stream): Hillary Clinton's Top 10 Political Moments](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/L3I0gpwt.m3u8) (1:49)  _Published 2015-04-09. Watch the top 10 moments from Hillary Clinton's career in politics._  by [Philip Elliott](https://time.com/author/philip-elliott/)  ## Philip Elliott Senior Correspondent Jul 23, 2015 5:47 PM UTC  Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee waves to supporters Tuesday, May 5, 2015, in Hope, Ark., after announcing that he is running for the Republican presidential nomination. Huckabee pitched himself Tuesday as the best GOP candidate to take on Democratic favorite Hillary Rodham Clinton. (AP Photo/Danny Johnston) Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee waves to supporters Tuesday, May 5, 2015, in Hope, Ark., after announcing that he is running for the Republican presidential nomination. Huckabee pitched himself Tuesday as the best GOP candidate to take on Democratic favorite Hillary Rodham Clinton. (AP Photo/Danny Johnston) Danny Johnston—AP  by [Philip Elliott](https://time.com/author/philip-elliott/)  ## Philip Elliott Senior Correspondent Jul 23, 2015 5:47 PM UTC The discredited claim that Bill and Hillary Clinton kill their opponents has long been a mainstay of the conservative id, even though there has never been any actual evidence to back it up. But that has not stopped Mike Huckabee from making a light-hearted nod at the conspiracies, with a joke that takes center stage in his new web video. The video features Huckabee joking that he is a rare example of a Clinton rival who opposed the former first couple and “lived to tell about it.” Huckabee’s campaign said Wednesday that the video is not trying to harken back to dark days of anti-Clinton fear mongering, or suggesting that the Clinton’s had killed their enemies. “That’s ridiculous. The video is a light-hearted but real reminder that in the political arena, the Clintons play tough and they play for keeps,” said Huckabee spokesman Hogan Gidley, when asked about the subtext of the ad. “If Republicans want to defeat Hillary in the fall, there’s only one candidate who has the experience repeatedly facing the Clinton machine and repeatedly winning—and that’s Mike Huckabee.” The line comes from a weekend appearance at a summit of Iowa evangelicals. Real estate mogul Donald Trump stole the headlines at that event with incendiary comments about former POW John McCain, whom Trump said was an American hero only because he was captured. The full transcript from the video runs like this: --- > “” --- Huckabee ran Arkansas years after Clinton decamped from Little Rock for Washington. Bill Clinton was Arkansas Governor from from 1983 until 1992, during which time he reformed the state’s Democratic Party and left behind a significantly lopsided legislature for Huckabee to confront. Huckabee was Governor from 1996 to 2007. In the darker corners of the Internet, there remains conspiratorial lists of the purported victims of the Clintons: former White House counsel Vince Foster who committed suicide; former Clinton business partner James McDougal who died of a heart attack while in prison; and Commerce Secretary Ron Brown, whose plane crashed in Croatia. Dozens of other alleged victims are on an Internet “body count” that is popular among the Clintons’ haters. ## Transcript You know, I'm not sittin' here some little woman standing here by my man like Tammy Wynette. I'm sittin' here because I love him, and I respect him. Now is our chance to beat the historical odds, and give the American people the health security they need. If there is one message that echoes forth from this. Let it be that human rights are women's rights and women's rights are human rights once and for all. The great story here for anybody willing to find it and write about it and explain it is this vast right- wing conspiracy that has been conspiring. Against my husband since the day he announced for president. I would be happy to, when you give me the signed letters. Well, right here. Right here. When you give me. Right here. Sign it right now. We'll shake. We'll shake on this, Ray. No, no, I want your signature, cause I think that everybody wants to see you signing something that you said you were for. You know, I have so many opportunities from this country. I just don't wanna see us fall backwards. Although we weren't able to shatter that highest, hardest glass ceiling this time, thanks to you, it's got about 18 million cracks in it. The battle to stop Al Qaeda and its affiliates. Does not end with one death. What difference, at this point, does it make? It is our job to figure out what happened and do everything we can to prevent it from ever happening again, Senator. I took the unprecedented step of asking that the state department make all my work- related emails, [ MUSIC ] Public for everyone to see. 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