On the December 20 edition of CNN's Anderson Cooper 360, discussing controversial remarks by William Shaheen, a then-co-chair of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's (D-NY) presidential campaign about Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), Jennifer Donahue, a senior adviser for political affairs at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics, claimed that the Clinton campaign is “playing the race card” because of “what happened last week on the drug issue with Shaheen, and, moreover, with [Clinton's chief strategist] Mark Penn, who then kept repeating it over and over and over.” But, as Media Matters for America documented, the entire December 13 Hardball segment on which Penn appeared was devoted to the controversy over Shaheen's comments, and Penn was not the first to raise the drug issue. Indeed, as Bob Somerby noted on his Daily Howler blog, host Chris Matthews “asked Penn a series of questions -- and every single one concerned drugs.”

The December 13 Hardball segment featured a discussion with Matthews, Penn, Obama chief strategist David Axelrod, and Joe Trippi, adviser to Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards. As Media Matters noted, Matthews began the segment by asking Axelrod, "[A]re you satisfied with the explanation from the Hillary Clinton campaign that the comment by Mr. Shaheen about drug use by your candidate was not something coming from the top?" During his questioning of Penn, Matthews' questions were exclusively on the issue of drugs:

• Matthews first asked Penn, “Mark, given the fact that this has reached into the spin room today and there were several questions to David Axelrod about whether his candidate, Senator Obama, has in fact shared or sold drugs, do you expect the Republicans to use this against the Democrats, no matter who wins the election -- the nomination fight, I should say?” Penn replied, “Oh, I don't know,” before going on to say: “I'm really disappointed. I think this thing with Billy Shaheen, he's stepped down. It was never a part of this campaign. It was unacceptable.”

• Matthews then asked, “Did you tell him to step down? Did you tell him to step down? It took 24 hours for him to do it. Do you think he did it in time to stop this from becoming a story?” Penn replied: “I think this story is over. I think we made it very clear yesterday that we didn't condone it. We weren't part of these -- of the story that he went on with. And we absolutely apologized. And the senator went on the tarmac of the airport as we were all coming down to this debate and apologized personally, because this is not part of her campaign.”

• Matthews continued, asking Penn: “These comments that are coming out of your campaign from different directions -- and I'm not sure how they're coming, and nobody does -- but going after his perhaps youthful drug use, which he admitted in his book, and going after comments he made as a student and as a kindergarten student in fifth -- at the age of 5, I should say, do you think those are appropriate shots at the opponent, or are they below the belt?” In response, Penn said: “Well, I think we've made clear that the issue related to cocaine use is not something that the campaign was in any way raising, and I think that's been made clear.” As Media Matters noted, Penn answered questions from Matthews and spoke for 1 minute and 43 seconds from the time he responded to Matthews' first question until he said the word “cocaine.”

Later during the Anderson Cooper 360 discussion, Donahue followed up her assertion that the Clinton campaign is “playing the race card” by asserting, “I don't mean that Hillary Clinton is trying to play a race card, but I think that they're bringing up the issue of fear of African-Americans in a way that is either intentional or not, but is real.”

From the 5 p.m. ET hour of the December 13 edition of MSNBC's Hardball:

MATTHEWS: Let me ask you, David Axelrod, are you satisfied with the explanation from the Hillary Clinton campaign that the comment by Mr. Shaheen about drug use by your candidate was not something coming from the top?

AXELROD: Look, I have no way of knowing that. They say that, and we have to accept them at their word. I'll say this, Chris. When you, when you launch a negative attack and you say that this is the fun part of the campaign, you send a signal down the line to others in the campaign that leads to this kind of thing.

And so whether or not there was an instruction to Mr. Shaheen, I think it's important that a signal get sent right from the top of the campaign that this isn't encouraged, that it's not the fun part of the campaign, that we ought to be lifting up this country instead of trying to tear each other down.

MATTHEWS: Are you serving notice by your comment right now and your comment in the spin room that any further negative attack or suggestion by one of the Clinton people will come from Hillary?

AXELROD: Well, I -- I'm not suggesting that, Chris. But I will say this. Unless there's a strong, consistent signal from the top, unless we refrain from saying things like, “Negative campaigning is the fun part of the campaign,” you're going to have that happening. There's sort of -- it's sort of a wink-and-a-nod thing. Everybody down the line says, “Oh, well, this is what this is about.”

So, I would think that it would be important for all the candidates to send a strong signal to their troops that this isn't where we're going go with this campaign. We're not going take it into the gutter.

MATTHEWS: Mark, given the fact that this has reached into the spin room today and there were several questions to David Axelrod about whether his candidate, Senator Obama, has in fact shared or sold drugs, do you expect the Republicans to use this against the Democrats, no matter who wins the election -- the nomination fight, I should say?

PENN: Oh, I don't know. I think, though, I'm very disappointed by David's comments. I mean, you know, he's trying to rewrite history here. It is his candidate, Senator Barack Obama, on the front page of The New York Times that called Senator Clinton disingenuous.

He started a wave of direct, personal negative attacks. And the senator finally began to reply very substantively that his plan leaves out 15 million people, whereas hers covers every single person. And he kept bringing up an Iran vote that he, in fact, skipped.

So, I'm really disappointed. I think this thing with Billy Shaheen, he's stepped down. It was never a part of this campaign. It was unacceptable.

MATTHEWS: Did you tell him to step down?

PENN: The senator made that clear.

No, he stepped down. And he made clear --

MATTHEWS: Did you tell him to step down? It took 24 hours for him to do it.

Do you think he did it in time --

PENN: No. No.

MATTHEWS: -- to stop this from becoming a story?

PENN: I think this story is over. I think we made it very clear yesterday that we didn't condone it. We weren't part of these -- of the story that he went on with.

And we absolutely apologized. And the senator went on the tarmac of the airport as we were all coming down to this debate and apologized personally, because this is not part of her campaign.

MATTHEWS: Right.

PENN: And I think it's very important. She has been running a year-long positive campaign in which she's out there talking about ending the Iraq war and health care for all.

MATTHEWS: These comments that are coming out of your campaign from different directions -- and I'm not sure how they're coming, and nobody does -- but going after his perhaps youthful drug use, which he admitted in his book, and going after comments he made as a student and as a kindergarten student in fifth -- at the age of 5, I should say, do you think those are appropriate shots at the opponent, or are they below the belt?

PENN: Well, I think we've made clear that the issue related to cocaine use is not something that the campaign was in any way raising, and I think that's been made clear.

I think this kindergarten thing was a joke after Senator -

TRIPPI: I think he just did it again. He just did it again.

PENN: This kindergarten thing, after what the senator did -

TRIPPI: Unbelievable. They just literally -

[crosstalk]

PENN: Excuse me.

TRIPPI: No, no. No, no, Mark, excuse me.

PENN: Excuse me. Excuse me.

TRIPPI: This guy's been filibustering on this. He just said “cocaine” again. It's like -

PENN: I think you're saying “cocaine.”

TRIPPI: No, no.

PENN: I don't know. I think you're saying it.

[crosstalk]

TRIPPI: You just did it.

PENN: I don't know why you're saying it.

[crosstalk]

MATTHEWS: OK, Joe Trippi's turn.

[crosstalk]

TRIPPI: No.

MATTHEWS: Joe Trippi's turn.

From the December 20 edition of CNN's Anderson Cooper 360:

COOPER: Jennifer, in New Hampshire is there the perception that Hillary Clinton is being singled out unfairly?

I want to read you something that Time magazine's editor at large mentioned to The Washington Post, Mark Halperin. He said: “She's just held to a different standard in every respect. The press rooted for Obama to go negative. When he did, he was applauded. When she does it, it's treated as this huge violation of propriety. It's not a level playing field.”

DONAHUE: Well, they're doing it in an entirely different way.

When Barack Obama went negative on Hillary Clinton, he did it after Edwards did, first of all. He grilled it and got it ready. And then Obama flipped it, and he basically did it in a way that was policy-based, issue-based.

What [former Sen. Bob] Kerrey [D-NE] did the other day and what happened last week on the drug issue with Shaheen, and, moreover, with Mark Penn, who then kept repeating it over and over and over, they're playing the race card. I mean, this is not some small thing where they're saying, like Gore did about [Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bill] Bradley [NJ] in 2000 -- “He wanted to raise the retirement age” -- when, in fact, he didn't.

This is the race card. They're attacking his race. And I think it's really above the pale. Voters here don't like it.

[...]

DONAHUE: Anderson, can I just jump in? Because I want to hear David's [Gergen, CNN senior political analyst] perspective.

I mean, would you also say, then, that [Republican presidential candidate Mike] Huckabee is not playing the religion card against [Republican presidential candidate Mitt] Romney?

GERGEN: No, I think he is playing the religion card.

But that's -- that's said in a positive way. But I think, when you say somebody is playing a race card, you suggest that they have racist motives or they have a racist quality to them.

DONAHUE: I don't -- well, I guess I don't --

GERGEN: I think that's unfair to the people involved.

DONAHUE: They're trying to -- but don't you think -- I don't mean that Hillary Clinton is trying to play a race card, but I think that they're bringing up the issue of fear of African-Americans in a way that is either intentional or not, but is real.

COOPER: I want David to respond, and then we got to go.

GERGEN: I just don't happen to agree. I think that's unfair.

Look, I think they have been clumsy. I think -- I think this is going to rebound against them. But I think it goes too far to say they're playing a race card.

COOPER: [CNN chief national correspondent] John King, David Gergen, Jennifer Donahue, appreciate your comments. Thank you.