China Confidential

Dateline USA exclusive....


Chris Matthews may be an appeaser when it comes to confronting radical Islam; but he is tough as nails, apparently, when it comes to standing up to his own American TV news network.

New York media industry insiders say the liberal MSNBC anchor and talk show host of Hardball and the Sunday morning program named for him has threatened to resign if the network is the first to air a rumored video recording of Michelle Obama ranting about "Whitey." In fact, the sources add, Matthews, who clearly supports Barack Obama, has threatened to resign if the network aggressively pursues the story.

Matthews' position is said to be that airing the video, if it exists, would be an incendiary "political act" instead of a journalistic scoop because it would revive Hillary Clinton's chances of "snatching" the Democratic Presidential nomination from Obama, and possibly trigger a "race riot."

Discouraging Reporting

Himself a former political operative, Matthews is discouraging investigative reporting into Obama's radical past--dating to his community organizing stint in Chicago--including ties to rabid Marxists and Black Nationalists.

Matthews has also let it be known, the sources say, that he will not tolerate discussion of Obama's Muslim background, insisting that the matter of his religious identity is "settled." The fact that he is America's first Muslim-born Presidential candidate according to Islamic religious law, and may also be considered a Muslim apostate, assuming he formally converted to Christianity (which is in doubt), is "beyond the pale of acceptable reporting," Matthews has reportedly told professional colleagues and friends.

Another story that Matthews is bent on ignoring: Chicago businessman Antoin "Tony" Rezko, 52, was convicted Wednesday of fraud, money laundering and aiding and abetting bribery in a plot to squeeze illegal payoffs out of firms hoping to do business with the state.

Rezko has known Obama since he entered politics, raised money for his Illinois campaigns and was involved in a murky 2005 real estate deal with him.

Obama has donated $150,000 in Rezko-related contributions to charity.

Matthews is an increasingly outspoken critic of American foreign policy--from the Iraq war to standing up for Israel and against nuclear-arming Iran to the need to militarily defeat Islamist terror. (Click below for a sample.)

In a speech at Harvard University's Institute of Politics early last month, Matthews accused his MSNBC bosses of being "basically pro-war during the [Iraq] war." He made the comment in the context of a larger discussion about alleged editorial bias at the network.