Whatever Happened to Hillary's Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy?

Here's an obvious sign that no one fears the investigative power of that Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy: reporters continuously suggesting or mildly implying that Hillary Clinton's nomination as Secretary of State wouldn't face much trouble over Bill Clinton's philanthropic conflicts of interest. On last Friday's Charlie Rose, newly minted ABC White House correspondent Jake Tapper described how Hillary had to be coaxed into taking the job (instead of her hungrily grabbing for it). In salons like Rose's, it's all about how fellow liberals get along, and whether conservatives object doesn't much matter:

But one of the problems with Senator Clinton I think that there has been -- she has been very torn about it. She has a lot of autonomy. She is a figure in the Senate unto her own right. They were making leadership positions for her there. And, you know, how much did she want to subvert her own independence in an Obama administration? And in fact, I'm told that on Wednesday night she communicated to the Obama transition team that she did not want the job, and she was going to turn it down. On Thursday, there was a tremendous amount of pressure and coaxing and cajoling from the Obama world, and by Thursday night she had accepted -- essentially accepted it. As you say, nothing officially offered or suspected. But we do expect an announcement after Thanksgiving.

CHARLIE ROSE: One issue was former President Clinton and whether he would disclose, A, all of the contributions to his foundation and to the Clinton Library, and, B, would he be willing to subscribe and limit or seek approval for his speaking engagements. Has that been signed off on?

JAKE TAPPER: My -- yes, it has been. And in fact, more quickly than I think a lot of people expected, and I think one of the ways they did it was involving a lot of people from Clinton`s inner circle: David Kendall, Cheryl Mills, John Podesta, the former White House chief of staff for President Bill Clinton is one of the co-chairs of Obama's transition team.They were deeply involved in a lot of this and they hammered out details. My understanding of the arrangement is that President Clinton will disclose donors. They will not be known publicly, but they will be known to the Obama transition team so they can vet them.

Rose merrily rolled along in done-deal mode, instead of asking Tapper: How is disclosing donors privately to Obama's transition team going to mollify Republicans? Rose could have even said it might cause trouble with "Clinton haters," if he wanted to sound suitably liberal. But there are no conservatives in the equation at this point.

Overall, Tapper's appearance on PBS was pretty matter-of-fact, but Rose is way too chummy with the liberal elite to really give viewers a sense of what kind of problems Team Obama may face -- if Republicans are willing to apply scrutiny (and naturally, be whacked on the knuckles by the liberal media for daring to act like an opposition.)