# Did Bill Clinton Ever Say 'I Feel Your Pain'? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 26, 2003, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-bill-clinton-ever-say-i-feel-your-pain/221111 "2003-12-26T11:43:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2010, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-bill-clinton-ever-say-i-feel-your-pain/221111/21 "2010-09-30T21:26:31Z")
Heh, the Onion had a great headline based on this: “Clinton feels nation’s pain, breasts”. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2010, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-bill-clinton-ever-say-i-feel-your-pain/221111/22 "2010-10-01T14:01:14Z")
The print edition of _Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations_ sources the quote to the March 1992 campaign appearance. I have a follow-up question for **JeffB** : Can we isolate the time frame, and maybe even the process, by which this became the canonical Clinton expression? The Laura Belle campaign appearance wasn’t heavily publicized at the time, at least outside of New York. It wasn’t a debate nor, I’m sure, was it televised live. Furthermore, the quote wasn’t delivered in a manner of oozing empathy, as everyone now imagines; it was delivered in a moment of confrontation. In fact, the confrontation was the only thing that made the event newsworthy. So how did this become so famous? By fall 1992 this was the canonical Clinton quote, and everybody remembered hearing it during a debate or a town hall even though that never happened. Did an opposition politician pick up on the quote and start flogging it? Did a comedian make fun of it a la Fey/Palin? For starters, using Lexis/Nexis, can we get a count of how many times the quote was associated with Clinton in news sources by month during 1992? ---
**Author:** ![Gukumatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/74df32/32.png) [@Gukumatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gukumatz)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2010, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-bill-clinton-ever-say-i-feel-your-pain/221111/23 "2010-10-01T14:16:05Z")
Well, for starters, you might PM **JeffB** , as I sincerely hope he’s not still frequently checking in on this thread. If not, well, come back in about 2017 and we’ll see. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2010, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-bill-clinton-ever-say-i-feel-your-pain/221111/24 "2010-10-01T15:28:41Z")
> [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](#): > > So how did this become so famous? By fall 1992 this was the canonical Clinton quote, and everybody remembered hearing it during a debate or a town hall even though that never happened. I thought “It’s the economy, stupid” was the canonical quote. And I don’t know where that came from either. ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2010, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-bill-clinton-ever-say-i-feel-your-pain/221111/25 "2010-10-01T15:32:20Z")
> [@JeffB](#): > > So Pat Buchanan’s use of “I feel your pain” pre-dates Clinton’s. The search turned up one other occurrence of the phrase in _The Union Leader_ (Manchester, VT) on 2/5/1992 by an alderman: > > > [@](#): > > > > “He (President Bush) says, ‘I feel your pain.’ That’s because he’s doing it to us,” Ward 8 Alderman Raymond Buckley said. Maybe Calvin Coolidge used it first. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2010, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-bill-clinton-ever-say-i-feel-your-pain/221111/26 "2010-10-01T15:33:20Z")
Wow,it only took 7 years to answer this question. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2010, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-bill-clinton-ever-say-i-feel-your-pain/221111/27 "2010-10-01T15:37:28Z")
Count yourself lucky! ---
**Author:** ![Erdosain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/erdosain/32/7284_2.png) [@Erdosain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erdosain)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2010, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-bill-clinton-ever-say-i-feel-your-pain/221111/28 "2010-10-01T15:40:29Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > > [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](#): > > > > So how did this become so famous? By fall 1992 this was the canonical Clinton quote, and everybody remembered hearing it during a debate or a town hall even though that never happened. > > I thought “It’s the economy, stupid” was the canonical quote. And I don’t know where that came from either. It came from a sign James Carville hung in the Clinton campaign headquarters: [It's the economy, stupid - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It%27s_the_economy,_stupid) ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2010, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-bill-clinton-ever-say-i-feel-your-pain/221111/29 "2010-10-01T16:21:26Z")
I never notice when a thread is a zombie . . . OK, the follow-up is for _anybody_ with Lexis/Nexus access and too much time on their hands. ---
**Author:** ![demwing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9dc877/32.png) [@demwing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/demwing)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2013, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-bill-clinton-ever-say-i-feel-your-pain/221111/30 "2013-03-19T18:54:30Z")
4 seconds long, all you hear is the quote, but this proves it, no doubt… [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/sBmFwKH5bVY/hqdefault.jpg "I Feel Your Pain") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBmFwKH5bVY) ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2013, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-bill-clinton-ever-say-i-feel-your-pain/221111/31 "2013-03-19T21:36:02Z")
I and many people first think of another canonical Clinton quote. ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2013, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-bill-clinton-ever-say-i-feel-your-pain/221111/32 "2013-03-19T21:45:26Z")
Double zombie thread, but for anybody interested, the video is also shown in this year’s Oscar-nominated documentary _How to Survive a Plague_, about ACT UPs involvement in getting AIDS-related drug evaluation changed and sped up. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2013, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-bill-clinton-ever-say-i-feel-your-pain/221111/33 "2013-03-19T21:46:57Z")
We’re improving! It only took three years this time. ---
**Author:** ![skibbb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@skibbb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skibbb)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2017, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-bill-clinton-ever-say-i-feel-your-pain/221111/34 "2017-05-22T18:35:31Z")
> [@Gukumatz](#): > > Well, for starters, you might PM **JeffB** , as I sincerely hope he’s not still frequently checking in on this thread. If not, well, come back in about 2017 and we’ll see. 🙂 Will we see **JeffB** before the year is through? ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2017, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-bill-clinton-ever-say-i-feel-your-pain/221111/35 "2017-05-22T23:31:23Z")
> [@skibbb](#): > > Will we see **JeffB** before the year is through? Since the OP was answered years ago, this one is closed. **samclem** , moderator. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-bill-clinton-ever-say-i-feel-your-pain/221111.md?page=1)