On November 1, 2011, the Wall Street Journal reported:
“Satire may not be Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s thing.
Last Friday, at the swanky Barley House tavern in Concord, N.H., Mr. Perry took a little jab at the Occupy Wall Street crowd, referencing an amusing quote his son had sent him from a protester occupying Toronto.
“I don’t know if it can be proved up or not,” Mr. Perry conceded, “the young man’s name was Jeremy and he was 38 years old. But he said, ‘We got here at 9 o’clock, and those people, this was in Toronto, I think Bay Street is their comparable [Wall Street], he said those bankers that we came to insult, they’d already been at work for two hours when we got here at 9 o’clock, and when we get ready to leave, you know, they’re still in there working. I guess greed just makes you work hard.”
It was a reasonable paraphrase of the quote from “Jeremy” in Toronto, who appeared in the Toronto Globe and Mail saying, “It’s weird protesting on Bay Street. You get there at 9 a.m. and the rich bankers who you want to hurl insults at and change their worldview have been at work for two hours already. And then when it’s time to go, they’re still there. I guess that’s why they call them the one per cent. I mean, who wants to work those kinds of hours? That’s the power of greed.”
Problem is, there is no “Jeremy.” The quote was from a satirical piece by columnist Mark Schatzker, entitled “Occupy Toronto: The one-week anniversary party.” Above that headline was the word, “Satire.””
Published: Nov 1, 2011