Welcome to The Lid, your afternoon dose of the 2016 ethos... Aides to Rand Paul and Marco Rubio were reportedly involved in a barroom shoving incident in Michigan on Thursday night, violating Ronald Reagan's lesser known 12th Commandment: "Republicans shalt not confront each in bars and then tweet about it it the next day."
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'16 AT 30 THOUSAND
Donald Trump's decision not to correct a questioner who falsely claimed Obama is a Muslim born outside the U.S. drew a natural contrast to how John McCain handled a similar situation in 2008. The then-GOP presidential nominee memorably told a voter that Obama was not a Muslim and that: "He's a decent, family man, citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with."
It's safe to say, though, based on Trump's soaring poll numbers after his comments about McCain's military service, that Trump's backers don't look to the 2008 Republican nominee as an example for political behavior worth imitating. Still, the most amazing takeaway to us is how baked in perceptions of the president remain fully SEVEN YEARS after McCain's "no ma'am" moment. A recent CNN/ORC poll found that 29 percent of Americans believe that Obama is a Muslim, including 43 percent of Republicans.
POPPING ON NBC POLITICS
- Hillary Clinton had a fiery response to Donald Trump’s failure to challenge a man who suggested that the president is Muslim and was not born in America., NBC’s Monica Alba reports.
- Lindsey Graham said Donald Trump should apologize.
- But Ben Carson gave him a pass, saying Trump may have misheard the question, NBC’s Alex Jaffee reports.
- NBC’s Ali Vitali has the details of the gun policy plan Trump released Friday.
- First Read looks at Style and rhetoric vs. governing and results.
CAMPAIGN QUICK READS
TRUMP: He says he’s willing to self-finance his run to the tune of $100 million.
And in a radio interview, he compared Fiorina to a robot for using talking points and said he’s never seen anybody sweat like Rubio during the debate.
KASICH: When talking about Latinos, the Ohio governor said, “A lot of them do jobs that they're willing to do and, uh, that's why in the hotel you leave a little tip,”the LA Times reported.
WALKER: Is Scott Walker right that Ronald Reagan was also flagging in the polls at this stage of his presidential races? The Washington Post investigates.
FOR THE RECORD…
“It's just two babies that can't get along."
The owner of a Michigan bar where an alleged fight took place between two operatives working for rival GOP presidential campaigns.
WEEKEND SKED
On Saturday, all the Democratic presidential candidates address the New Hampshire Democratic Party State Convention.
Republicans Ted Cruz, John Kasich, Carly Fiorina, Scott Walker and Rand Paul speak at the Michigan GOP’s Mackinac Leadership Conference on Saturday.
Also Saturday, Cruz, Donald Trump, Bobby Jindal, Lindsey Graham, George Pataki, Rick Santorum and Mike Huckabee attend the Iowa Faith and Freedom Forum in Des Moines.
