Rick Perry makes a suggestion. (AP)
Politicians often rely on overused phrases: Everyone is "my friend" to John McCain; Barack Obama really wants you to let him be clear; Newt Gingrich enjoys speaking "frankly"; and Rick Perry, as you're about to find out, likes to make suggestions. Lots of them.
Whether it's recommending a plan to get Big Government out of your life or slamming Mitt Romney, Perry almost always prefaces his ideas with the phrase, "I would suggest to you ..."
Inspired by a tweet from The Daily Caller's Alex Pappas pointing out Perry's verbal tic, Jeff Winkler of the Washington County Observer passes along this fun list of Perry's "suggestions" so far on the campaign trail:
Mitt Romney should have his pockets inspected.
"I would suggest to you that $10,000 is pocket change for Mitt."
Obama should stop hating Christmas parties.
"What we're seeing from the left, of which I would suggest to you, President Obama is a member of the left and substantial left-of-center beliefs, that you can't even have a Christmas party."
Justices Sotomayer and Kagan should stop telling Americans how to live.
"Sotomayor, and Kagan, are both activists judges, and I would suggest to you that is an example of my concern about, I believe the Supreme Court should not be making legislative decisions and telling Americans how to live."
Try a Texas Handshake. It's almost as good as a vow to God.
"When I make a vow to God, then I would suggest to you that's even stronger than a handshake in Texas."
We should have a conversation.
"I would suggest to you, let's have that conversation. Is that one of the fixes? Get it back to the states. Why is the federal government even in the pension program or the health-care delivery program? Let the states do it."
We should all accept that, sometimes, scuttlebutt just happens.
"I've talked to both of them, as a matter of fact, in the last 24 hours," Perry said. "If they have, news to me. I would suggest to you that that's just scuttlebutt. Highly technical Aggie term for 'not correct.'"
At any place I speak, there should be a place to take a nap.
"I would suggest to you I was pretty fatigued," he said. "But no excuses, it was there, it's what it is and, look, if anybody's looking for a perfect candidate I'm not it."
Watch out for cancer. It's as pervasive as college dropouts.
"There's that old college saying often told to incoming freshmen that if they look to the person on their left and the person on their right, the statistics show that one of them won't be there when they graduate. I would suggest to you that cancer is even more pervasive."
Check out the list of people who dislike me. It's long and distinguished.
"I would suggest to you that is a long and distinguished list of folks," Perry said in an Associated Press interview before an appearance in Iowa. "I don't think there's a lot of utility of sitting here listing folks that are our opponents, whether they are on the Republican side of the ledger or the Democratic side"
Don't be presumptive. It's possible for anyone to implode.
"By watching the last four of us that were at the top of the polls, I would suggest to you that it's possible for anyone [to implode]," Perry said, noting Newt Gingrich is at the top right now. "It's a very, very fluid race, in Iowa in particular."
We should stop spending money. It makes people tired.
"I would suggest to you that people are tired of spending money we don't have on programs we don't want."
We should stop protecting bad actors.
"I would suggest to you that we have those protections in place today for the few bad actors that might be out there in the world. But the overregulation from Washington D.C., this one-size-fits-all, has to end."
Don't load up then have clashes with Mexican drug cartels.
"I would suggest to you in that almost 100-year period of time, that idea of loading up and riding across the border to clash with the cartel members might be ill-conceived."
Don't ask Texans to gamble. They don't believe in luck.
"I would suggest to you there are a lot of people in Texas that are a bit offended by his remarks that somehow or another the Texas economy is due to luck."
We should hang out with laws more.
"I would suggest to you we spend time with the laws that we've got on the book being enforced, we'll have a substantial smaller number of people of which we're gonna have to make decisions about at that particular point in time."
If America wasn't so regulated, companies wouldn't send work abroad.
"That may have been part of a formula, but it is not the reason they left. I would suggest to you they left because they were overregulated, and the cost of that regulation and the tax structure that we have in place in this country is what drove the masses away."
RomneyCare is just like Obamacare.
"The health care plan out of Massachusetts, I would suggest to you, is too much the like the health care plan passed out of Washington."
"I'm sayin' that if, no I'm trying to make a comparable here. If that's a good expenditure, then I would suggest to you the dollars we're spending on abstinence education is a good expenditure."Learn by example. Texas is a microcosm of America.
"Well, I'm pretty sure there has never been a candidate [where] all the people agree with his or her positions on the issues. And there are single-issue voters, and I understand that. I respect that. I've run three times in Texas and I would suggest to you, Texas is somewhat of a microcosm of the rest of the country, particularly in this first decade of the 21st century."
Other popular Yahoo! News stories:
Want more of our best political stories? Visit The Ticket or connect with us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.