Goodnight Bush
Encyclopedia
Goodnight Bush: A Parody (ISBN 031604041X) is a book by Gan Golan and Erich Origen, former employees of Donald Rumsfeld
who met while working at a dot-com
. Published on May 27, 2008, it takes a satirical
look back at the presidency of George W. Bush
, using the popular children's book Goodnight Moon
as a jumping off point. Described as a "traumedy" by its authors, the book touches on issues including torture
, war for profit
, the government's response to Hurricane Katrina
, and the hunt for Osama bin Laden
.
The unauthorized parody was submitted unsolicited to the Little, Brown publishing house in a clear envelope. Although the company had been previously sued for publishing the parody book Yiddish with Dick and Jane
, they decided to publish it under the fair use
doctrine of copyright law.
Set in a situation room, the story follows President Bush, who appears as a grinning figure in a flight suit as he prepares for bed. Other characters include Dick Cheney
as a grumpy figure sitting in a rocking chair with a shotgun (a reference to the Dick Cheney hunting incident
, and Osama bin Laden as a scurrying mouse, parodying the Bush administration's failure to capture him. Unlike the original book, which proceeds from 7pm to 8:10pm, the clock on the nightstand is stuck at 9:11, with the three bears in chairs replaced by "war profiteers giving three cheers".
The book was well-received on its release, with reviewers commenting not only on its humor but also on its close resemblance to Goodnight Moon in terms of illustrations, rhyming scheme, and even its smell, which was due to the reuse of the original ink and paper. However, many reviewers also pointed to the dark content of the book, which ends with the U.S. Constitution in tatters and full of crayoned redaction
s, a scale balancing church and state
leaning wholly towards "church", and a final goodnight to "failures everywhere".
Donald Rumsfeld
Donald Henry Rumsfeld is an American politician and businessman. Rumsfeld served as the 13th Secretary of Defense from 1975 to 1977 under President Gerald Ford, and as the 21st Secretary of Defense from 2001 to 2006 under President George W. Bush. He is both the youngest and the oldest person to...
who met while working at a dot-com
Dot-com company
A dot-com company, or simply a dot-com , is a company that does most of its business on the Internet, usually through a website that uses the popular top-level domain, ".com" .While the term can refer to present-day companies, it is also used specifically to refer to companies with...
. Published on May 27, 2008, it takes a satirical
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
look back at the presidency of George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
, using the popular children's book Goodnight Moon
Goodnight Moon
Goodnight Moon is an American children's book written by Margaret Wise Brown and illustrated by Clement Hurd. It was first published in 1947, and is a highly acclaimed example of a bedtime story. It is about a child saying goodnight to everything around: "Goodnight room. Goodnight moon. Goodnight...
as a jumping off point. Described as a "traumedy" by its authors, the book touches on issues including torture
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
, war for profit
War profiteering
A war profiteer is any person or organization that profits from warfare or by selling weapons and other goods to parties at war. The term has strong negative connotations. General profiteering may also occur in peace time.-International arms dealers:...
, the government's response to Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
, and the hunt for Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets...
.
The unauthorized parody was submitted unsolicited to the Little, Brown publishing house in a clear envelope. Although the company had been previously sued for publishing the parody book Yiddish with Dick and Jane
Dick and Jane
Dick and Jane were the main characters in popular basal readers written by William S. Gray and Zerna Sharp and published by Scott Foresman, that were used to teach children to read from the 1930s through to the 1970s in the United States...
, they decided to publish it under the fair use
Fair use
Fair use is a limitation and exception to the exclusive right granted by copyright law to the author of a creative work. In United States copyright law, fair use is a doctrine that permits limited use of copyrighted material without acquiring permission from the rights holders...
doctrine of copyright law.
Set in a situation room, the story follows President Bush, who appears as a grinning figure in a flight suit as he prepares for bed. Other characters include Dick Cheney
Dick Cheney
Richard Bruce "Dick" Cheney served as the 46th Vice President of the United States , under George W. Bush....
as a grumpy figure sitting in a rocking chair with a shotgun (a reference to the Dick Cheney hunting incident
Dick Cheney hunting incident
The Dick Cheney hunting incident occurred on February 11, 2006, when then U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney shot Harry Whittington, a 78-year-old Texas attorney, while participating in a quail hunt on a ranch in Kenedy County, Texas...
, and Osama bin Laden as a scurrying mouse, parodying the Bush administration's failure to capture him. Unlike the original book, which proceeds from 7pm to 8:10pm, the clock on the nightstand is stuck at 9:11, with the three bears in chairs replaced by "war profiteers giving three cheers".
The book was well-received on its release, with reviewers commenting not only on its humor but also on its close resemblance to Goodnight Moon in terms of illustrations, rhyming scheme, and even its smell, which was due to the reuse of the original ink and paper. However, many reviewers also pointed to the dark content of the book, which ends with the U.S. Constitution in tatters and full of crayoned redaction
Redaction
Redaction is a form of editing in which multiple source texts are combined and subjected to minor alteration to make them into a single work. Often this is a method of collecting a series of writings on a similar theme and creating a definitive and coherent work...
s, a scale balancing church and state
Separation of church and state
The concept of the separation of church and state refers to the distance in the relationship between organized religion and the nation state....
leaning wholly towards "church", and a final goodnight to "failures everywhere".