海角大神

鈥淎s you know鈥�:聽A common political verbal tic meaning 鈥渁s you SHOULD know.鈥�

鈥淎s you know鈥� is a subtle way of either reminding people of an accomplishment or an opponent鈥檚 failing, of pointing out something that someone, in fact, may not know, and of conferring the status of truth on what may be only a matter of opinion.

At Thursday鈥檚 Democratic debate, both Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I) of Vermont made frequent use of the device (Mrs. Clinton also started many of her remarks with the colloquial 鈥測ou know鈥�). Here鈥檚 the former First Lady, senator and secretary of State at Senator Sanders plans to expand Medicare beyond the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare): 鈥淚f it鈥檚 Medicare for all, then you no longer have the Affordable Care Act, because the Affordable Care Act, as you know very well, is based on the insurance system, based on exchanges, based on a subsidy system.鈥�

Later in the debate, Sanders raised it in his closing remarks. 鈥淭his campaign is not just about electing a president,鈥� he said. 鈥淲hat this campaign is about is creating a process for a political revolution in which millions of Americans, working people who have given up on the political process 鈥� [and] young people for whom getting involved in politics is, as you know, it鈥檚 like going to the moon. It ain鈥檛 going to happen.鈥�

Sanders has in his campaign. But in a recent interview with The Washington Post, the Vermont senator deployed 鈥渁s you know鈥� to with an extremely popular Catholic leader. 鈥淚n terms of climate change, you have people as conservative as the evangelicals, many evangelicals, who understand that you cannot destroy God鈥檚 planet,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd you have Pope Francis, who as you know, I admire very, very much, talking about this planet and the suicidal direction regarding climate.鈥�

Meanwhile, on the Republican side, Donald Trump鈥檚 campaign manager Corey Lewandowski recently slipped in the phrase in at rival Ted Cruz. The Texas senator and New York billionaire have feuded over Trump鈥檚 support of eminent domain 鈥� the federal government鈥檚 right to take private property for public use 鈥� and over whether Cruz鈥檚 birth in Canada raises legal questions about whether he can be president.

鈥淭he Keystone Pipeline, as you know, starts where Ted Cruz was born, in the country of Canada, and runs right down to where he lives now, in the state of Texas,鈥� Lewandowski said. 鈥淎nd eminent domain is an issue that you know what, unfortunately, sometimes you need to use it to get projects like that done.鈥�

And Rush Limbaugh on his show to blast one of his favorite targets 鈥� the so-called 鈥渄rive-by media鈥� that he accuses of seeking sensationalism and scandal before moving on to its next victim. 鈥淭he objective, as you know, in many places in the media is to take people out,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hat is how, in certain areas of the drive-by media, you climb the ladder.

Chuck McCutcheon writes his "Speaking Politics" blog exclusively for Politics Voices.

Interested in decoding what candidates are saying? Chuck McCutcheon and David Mark鈥檚 latest book, 鈥淒oubletalk: The Language, Code, and Jargon of a Presidential Election,鈥�