Here is the only section I can find where she mentions the GOP. I believe this is an accurate transcript, as I listened several times; typos are of course mine, and I could have transposed words although I tried to get it right:
"Now to be fair, some GOP candidates they also raise mammoth amounts of cash and we need to ask them too what if anything do their donors expect in return for their investments. We need to know this, because our country can't afford more trillion dollar thank-you notes to campaign backers."Later, she chastised some conservatives, not for crony capitalism, but for not taking the chance to say what we really needed to hear.
I was paying special attention to the speech to see if she went after GOP candidates (since some had said she would do so), and she largely steered clear of criticizing other candidates. That quote above was the closest she came, and seems most likely to be targeted at Mitt Romney, the only presidential candidate who has raised enough money to really qualify at this point. She also was probably talking about ALL candidates, not just for president, since she spoke of washington as a whole.
Earlier, she mentioned "vetting a candidates record", but that was clearly aimed at Obama. Here's the transcript that I made of that section (again, it's my best attempt, please feel free to correct it):
"So please, you must vet a candidate's record, you must know their ability to successfully reform and actually fix problems that they're going to claim that they inherited."The line "they're going to claim that they inherited" tells you it's about Obama, who keeps saying he inherited all his problems. None of the republicans are talking about inheriting problems."Real reform never sits well with the intrenched special interests and that's why the true voices of reform are so quickly demonized. Look what they say about you, you are concerned civilized citizens and look what they say about you."
The second paragraph, which led into a specific discussion about the debt downgrade and how the liberals blamed the tea party, was not about candidates, it was about the entrenched washington political class.
I'm hoping there will be an official release of the speech, because it was very long and I can't transcript like I used to.
Your interpretation is incorrect. Peter Hamby of cnn, who is assigned to follow her campaign, was just on cnn and said the vetting of candidates for where the campaign funds originate, -— where those thanks you notes would be going -— was directed at Perry.