ONE LESS CANDIDATE FOR DNC CHAIR, AND NO GREAT LOSS

Even if you're paying attention to the race for Democratic National Committee chair, you may not have heard of one candidate who's now out of the race and won't be missed:

The Democratic National Committee is kicking a candidate out of the chairmanship race after he told The Hill that Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) should not be the party’s next leader because he is a Muslim.

In a Jan. 5 email to The Hill, Vincent Tolliver, a former House candidate in Arkansas, said that Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress, should not be chairman because of Islamic positions on homosexuality.

“His being a Muslim is precisely why DNC voters should not vote for him,” Tolliver wrote. “Muslims discriminate against gays. Islamic law is clear on the subject, and being gay is a direct violation of it. In some Muslim countries, being gay is a crime punishable by death.”

“Clearly, Mr. Ellison is not the person to lead the DNC or any other organization committed to not discriminating based on gender identity or sexual orientation,” Tolliver continued.

Where to start? With the fact that the Christian Bible says that gay sex is punishable by death, and no one says we should prevent Christians from running for DNC chair? With the fact that Ellison, although he was married to a woman for 25 years and they had four kids, is now the vice-chair of the Congressional Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Caucus? With the fact that Ellison made this adorbs video in 2013, when same-sex marriage became legal in Minnesota?



But Tolliver wasn't a very promising candidate even before this failed attack. Take a look at his genius marketing strategy for the party, which is included in a "Letter to DNC Voters and Fellow Democrats" that appeared at the Huffington Post on January 17. All emphasis is in the original:

I propose we use the following four Grassroots tangibles to Recruit, Redefine, Reimagine, and REBUILD the Democratic Party: (1) Cell phones, (2) Earphones, (3) Music, and (4) T-shirts/Jeans.

Rationale:

Nowadays everyone has a cell phone and many (especially the coveted 18-35 demographic we should aggressively recruit) listen to music through earphones wherever they are (i.e. home, school, work, car, truck, bus, tractor and other various farm equipment, 18 wheeler, train, airplane, mall, neighborhood, walking jogging, running, gym, restaurants, etc.). So, why not use cell phones and music to help in our efforts to rebuild the Democratic Party from the ground up? It’s simple. It’s easy. And it makes a lot of sense.

Implementation:

Everyone has a pair jeans and a t-shirt. Adding t-shirts/jeans to the cell phones and music component will help with our identity issues and also assist with branding the Democratic Party. As part of our Grassroots movement, we will encourage the wearing of t-shirts/jeans.

Further, we will encourage new recruits and experienced Democrats alike to write DEMOCRAT (in crayon, color sharpie, blue markers, paint, or whatever is available) across the tops of t-shirts. Below DEMOCRAT should be “I love” and below that should be a personal musical favorite. For me, it could be Dolly Parton, Beyonce, Metallica, Kendrick Lamar, Aretha Franklin, Barbara Streisand, Taylor Swift, Adele, Outkast, Tim McGraw, Jay-Z, etc.

It doesn’t really matter who you musically love. What matters is the t-shirt begins the conversation which begins the work, which promotes and REBUILDS the brand -- the Democratic Party.

Wow -- a fascist was about to enter White House and this guy was talking about T-shirts and crayons. The party gave him the hook? Good.