Last Chapter suggestion contest: The winner is…

Tewise, for reminding me of how much damage Sarah has done to professional women with her antics.  She wrote, in part:

I hope you have included how one woman single handedly set back what women have been able to accomplish in history… She has highhandedly tried to stop our voices about what concerns our own bodies and how we are treated. She claims to not be intimidated by the things said about her because she is tough, I call bullshit. The first thing she does is hollar about them picking on her because she is a woman…In my opinion she has hurt our progress more than any other female I can think of. I made a career in Law Enforcement, actually I was the second female Lieutenant in the department. I put up with so much crap trying to prove myself and prove to the establishment that women can make good officers. That we can make sound decisions, remain professional and keep our composure. Then some fly by night so called woman trashes it, tears it up and exhibits everything that every career woman has tried to dispel.

My blue ribbon panel of judges also selected for honorable mention:

Ivyfree

mxm

dmoreno

Reality Check

Thanks to all who participated.  The flood of thoughtful suggestions proved extremely useful as I wrote the last chapter.

It’s all done now.  The book is finished.  The Crown Publishing publicity department is developing an exciting strategy for publication in the fall.  I’ll, of course, keep everyone informed.

 

30 Responses to “Last Chapter suggestion contest: The winner is…”

  • Jeanabella:

    Congratulations Tewise , couldn’t agree more with this choice!

  • Ottoline:

    Joe and Tewise — A huge and important point. Congratulations! Some of us (like me) were initially fooled by the GOP choosing a plain-speaking woman. A woman! Good! I was disillusioned in the next nano-second. The idea that the McCain crew thought Hillary fans would flock to Palin added insult to injury, because it revealed their staggering ignorance of women’s issues. I was for Obama all along, but Hillary is a fine, dedicated, educated, intelligent woman with genuine concern for the nation’s well-being (and obviously a great mother!), all of which Palin is not. Palin’s effect on women’s progress has not been discussed much, but it is obvious to all, so this is an excellent choice. I bet if you asked Gloria Steinem to comment on this last chapter, she would do it, and in her inimitable way offer a memorable quote for your PR work.

    Those of us who see the pregnancy hoax as the centerpiece of Palin’s gazillion lies would cheer at this final chapter, which of course also moved DS and choice issues backwards as part of it all.

  • carollt:

    Congrats Tewise. Sarah has done a lot of damage to working women. Well said.

  • Windy:

    Well said Tewise! I’ve been a stay-at-home mom butI totally agree about how much of a negative impact Sarah Palin has had on professional/career women.

  • Mrs Gunka:

    I was never a real working woman (part-time for a short time) but I was a stay at home mother. Sarah Palin is NOT a mother either! She has slapped every woman in the face! She wasn’t even a pretty beauty Queen. The judges had her pegged. I can’t believe she was ever Miss Congeniality! Miss Barracuda maybe.
    Not knowing what was in the other chapters, I’m glad you included this Joe. My suggestion of “We’re screwed” would have worked too! 🙂 But it might have worked for every chapter. Can’t wait to read the book.
    Congrats Tewise!

  • Deb:

    Congratulations Tewise!

    Quitter Palin:

    Quit as Gov
    Quit her position on the oil commission
    Quit supporting the advancement of women
    Quit as mother

    I’m not actually sure she has every completed anything unless you include there is a check for $100,000 at the finish line.

    Curiousity has me – wonder if she will show her faux face & ‘faux enhanced boobs’ at the Belmont Stakes this year????????

  • SusanC:

    Congratulations, Tewise!

  • themom:

    Tewise is a perfect choice. How eloquently she expresses what certainly dwells in the hearts and minds of many women all over the country. She (SP) has gravely minimized the important strides in the women’s movement. I agree that career in a male dominated field has been a constant of working twice as much to be thought half as good. Some celebrated the snark, sabotage, and blatant sexism. SP has sent us back.

    Thank you Tewise for submitting it. I look forward to seeing the justice Mr.McGinness does for it.

    I am happy for Tewise and the other winners. Warm congratulations!!

  • sharon:

    there are so many ways palin has damaged our country in very glaring ways. Palin has nothing I want. Nor does she represent me as a woman in any way. She is the lowest and darkest example of a woman that i’ve ever witnessed. She views women with disdain and total disrespect. She’s an offensive and unwanted part of our sisterhood – those of us that strive to rise above the double standards and the inequity we’ve lived simply because we’re women – we want no part of her. She uses religion the same way she uses her children as props. She uses men, stepping over their bodies after she’s thrown them under the bus to further her own self interests….she has an empty soul. Women are chosen to feed her ego and serve as handmaids – the mean girl in school became the mean girl on a global scale.

  • Congratulations Tewise! Excellent points. Joe, I am so looking forward to the book.

  • Ratfishtim:

    Great pick. Palin criticized Hillary Clinton for “whining” about the media. Apparently Palin wanted to become the “Whiner-in-Chief,” and has succeeded.
    ***********************************************************
    During a Women and Leadership event back in March 2008, Governor Palin was asked about Senator Clinton’s response to media scrutiny – and criticism – she received on the campaign trail during the Democratic primaries. Palin made it clear to moderator Karen Breslau of Newsweek that she considered Clinton’s conduct unbecoming. Hillary, she insisted, needed to just “plow through”:

    “Fair or unfair, I think she does herself a disservice to even mention it…When I hear a statement like that coming from a woman candidate with any kind of perceived whine about that excess criticism or, you know, maybe a sharper microscope put on her, I think, man, that doesn’t do us any good. Women in politics, women in general wanting to progress this country. I don’t think it’s, it bodes well for her — a statement like that…It bothers me a little bit hearing her bring that attention to herself on that level.”

  • Lisabeth:

    This is perfect!! Congratulations Tewise. I have tried to vocalize to others why I despise this woman but I have never been able to completely figure out why my hatred was so intense. This really is alot of it. Also her winking and flirting. It’s nauseating. Then to be accused of being jealous by her stupid fans. Are you kidding me?

  • Lidia17:

    Mrs. Gunka, you are so right! Palin has soiled the standing of both career women AND moms in general. Heck, wives and women in general, no matter what “titles” they have garnered (wife, mother, “Miss”, boss, or governor).

    She’s also succeeded in debasing men, since she brings out their worst natures. They looked at her and saw “starbursts”.

    This is what a true malignant psychopath is capable of.

    She renders everything squalid, as she herself is squalid.

  • Ivyfree:

    Congratulations to Tewise!

    and Wow! I’m honored with Honorable Mention!

  • Congratulations Tewise & all the runner-ups and pats on the back to all the judges *pat*pat*pat*

    Cannot wait for delivery of the book – Joe you must be so relieved that it’s done eh! And done on an excellent note as well. Good choice 🙂

  • Ann:

    Great choice, Joe! I say that as the daughter of a woman who broke her own barriers in the mid-1960s. My mother went to work then out of sheer necessity: my father lost his business and we needed the money. No other mother I knew was working at that time. My mom carved out a career for herself in a government job where women were not welcome and were reminded of that daily. She worked her way up the ladder by starting out in a part-time position, became involved in the union, then management (I have pictures of her where she’s the sole female among many men in management classes), and then as head of a branch of this same government agency. As a supervisor/manager, she felt a keen responsiblity to help other women and minorities in their efforts to advance. Really, my mom was my hero. And she did this with five kids (all of whom were hers). A tough and very sentimental broad. I so wish she was still alive so we could rant about Sarah Palin together. She would be both dumbfounded and appalled (as I am) by Palin’s lack of depth/knowledge, thin skin and incurious nature. And I suspect, she’d be writing as many checks to the Democratic Party as I am to do her best to ensure that Palin would never see the inside of the White House.

  • Tewise:

    Thank you all so much for the warm congrats. Thank you Mr. McGinniss and Judges for choosing me out of all the excellent suggestions. Congratulations to Ivyfree, mxm, dmoreno, Reality Check. Congratulations Mr. McGinniss for finishing your book and putting the information out there to the people that want and need the truth. Thank you again.

  • omomma:

    While she has definitely damaged the perception of women as rational beings, the greater damage she does is her calling out of the lowest impulses of human nature–fear, retaliation, revenge. Whatever damage she does to women is magnified by the damage done to the population at large.

  • Ailsa:

    Great choice! And choices. Congratulations.

  • mxm:

    Tewise suggested a very fitting final chapter topic, congratulations. It was amazing to read all the suggestions. I am thrilled to be part of the honorably mentioned group and I truly look forward to reading this study of a woman who has inspired hate, vitriol and bigotry.

  • Sally:

    Congratulations to all…this needs to get out there…the woman is a disgusting example of a mother, a Christian, and an executive. I haven’t plowed through many of the emails, but the ones I’ve seen show her more focused on her critics than her job; what her family can get out of it rather than being ethical; and how to keep people lying for her. Despicable is too nice a word for her.

  • dmoreno:

    This was so much fun. Congrats to Tewise for coming up with the winning topic for the final chapter in what surely will be a great book. Now, Tewise, you have to tell us what you are going to do with the money, or better yet, we can send in suggestions on how to spend it with a prize for the winning suggestion!!!!!!

  • Alaskan:

    Good job Tewise, you said what many competent and strong women in Alaska think…you gave voice to those as well, who are in situations that they cannot control…your voice in unified. Congrats. on being the second female Lieutenant in the dept. We need strong women in our police force throughout Alaska and strong women in our Dept. of Public Safety, Alaska State Troopers. Yes it’s frustrating that we feel that people all over the United States think that Sarah Palin represents Alaskan’s…she does not. I too travel all over the State, and out of State as well…wherever my travels take me, I do let people know that this women is not what Alaska is made of…she is what the out of touch, msm media has now become. She makes headlines because she’s a train wreck. She sells paper’s because people cannot believe what she spews forth. Once she fails to bring home the bacon for certain individuals who control the media…then she’s toast.

  • dlbvet:

    Awesome!! I have been trying for the last several weeks to figure out why I feel such intense ‘dislike’ for Mrs. Palin. I think the feelings are quite a bit more distasteful than that, but I have a 4 year old daughter that I am trying, valiantly sometimes but not quite succeeding, to model good behavior for.
    Anyway. I have been asking myself why I dislike Sarah Palin so much and why her antics are causing me so much angst. I finally decided, and just told my mother this last weekend, that it is because my role as a mother has become my most defining moment. I have three college degrees, two of which grant me professional licensure (physical therapist and veterinarian). I was all about my career, never having children, yada, yada, yada. Then I got pregnant. And nothing else mattered. I was fortunate that we have been able to miraculously make ends meet (albeit not prettily) these last 4 years to enable me to stay home with my daughter full-time. I have just had to reenter the workforce part-time (there was simply no longer any way to move the nonexistent funds around…) and I hate it!! I want to be home with my daughter.
    When I first saw Sarah Palin that night at the RNC, carrying her little baby with Down Syndrome around like a sack of potatoes, at what, 11 pm at night in front of a thunderously loud crowd with glaring spotlights and flashes??…I was sickened. And completely, totally offended. She took one of the most miraculous things in life, MOTHERHOOD, and made it into a joke. And I have been pissed off at her ever since. (Sorry, don’t mean to be crude.)
    Yes, Tewise has it right. Sarah Palin has made a mockery of females, womanhood, feminism, motherhood and everything that is absolutely, undeniably earth-shatteringly awesome about being a woman. She does not personify a successful woman, in my book. She does not embody any trait or characteristic that I associate with being a wonderful mother. My heart hurts for her children. I better stop now before I say something completely and totally uncouth. That would make me not any better than her and I simply cannot allow myself to sink to that level.
    All I can say is god/allah/great spirit/buddha/the great mystery/whatever…save us from this travesty of a thing in woman’s clothing.

  • Freesia:

    Congratulations Tewise. 🙂 You deserve it. You sound like the “rill” deal. No, really. Thanks for making it real in spite of Palin’s best tawdry efforts to undo what you (and women like you) have done. In spite of women like her.

    Her mockery of women be it qualifications for career, motherhood, personhood is revolting. However to read the words of a woman like you just drives her lack and her abuse of other women right on home.

    I’m glad Joe chose you. Grateful to him for giving you a platform to say what should be said.A “shout out” (sarcastic nod to Sarah) to him. And to you.

  • carollt:

    I think you are correct Mrs. Gunka. Mrs. Palin has done a lot of damage to women who work hard for no pay (i.e. stay at home mothers). Her so-called brand has damaged us all.

  • Bretta:

    My heartfelt appreciation to Tewise for elucidating our dismay in Sarah Palin.

    Women’s rights are critical.

    Thank you, Joe, for reiterating what is truly valuable.

  • KatieAnnieOakley:

    Amen. And congratulations to Tewise and the others.

  • VHTG:

    Utterly perfect suggestion, tewise. It’s so completely perfect as a wrap up to the saga of Sarah Palin that it seems like we should have all had that thought, lol (at least we who are female, anyway!).

    Congrats to the honorable mentions and to everyone else who gave it a shot. So many thoughtful people and great insights; They were a pleasure to read and a wonderful reminder that NORMAL people see through Sarah Palin.

    Looking forward with much anticipation to Joe’s book.

  • FEDUP!!!:

    Great points, Tewise! Congrats for being the finalist!

    OTOH, Joe, you have to get out there with your book-advertising! I mean, Bri$tol has her ‘memoir’ coming out, using HER little prop (which his dad is NOT allowed to use in this way), titled “Bristol Palin – not afraid of Life – my journey so far” (with Nancy French)