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Joy Behar Page
Tiger`s Multiple Affairs; Interview With Levi Johnston
Aired December 07, 2009 - 21:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOY BEHAR, HOST: Tonight on The Joy Behar Show, Tiger Woods may try to avoid the rough on the golf course, but does he like it rough in the bedroom? According to one of his alleged mistresses, the answer is yes, sir.
Then he reveals details of Sarah Palin`s private life. But in an upcoming "Playgirl" spread, he`ll reveal even more. Levi Johnston joins me live. And who knows what he`ll reveal. I warn you, we keep it cold in the studio.
Plus, Andrew Sullivan, author, columnist and pundit has finally decided the right was wrong and I`m happy to welcome him to the fold.
All this and more starting right now.
We are not done with this topic. Tiger is not out of the Woods yet. The list of women he cheated with is reportedly up to nine and more could be on the way.
Here to talk about Tiger`s latest transgressions are Mike Walters, assignment manager at TMZ; Robi Ludwig, psychotherapist and comedian Karith Foster. Welcome to the show, everybody.
Ok. Let`s start with the shrink. How does this guy have the mental and physical energy to play golf?
ROBI LUDWIG, PSYCHOTHERAPIST: Well, it might inspire him to play better golf.
BEHAR: You think so?
LUDWIG: Well, it could, if you feel I`m all that. Or if you are getting a lot of attention and it feeds your grandiosity, then it can make you feel like you can do anything. He`s very good at his sport. So people are able to categorize.
BEHAR: He`s the best at his sport that you`re ever going to be.
LUDWIG: Yes.
BEHAR: Than anyone will ever be.
LUDWIG: Yes. So I think he`s able to probably separate out the two, do what he needs to do in terms of his game.
And then listen, if you have a lot of gorgeous women who are throwing themselves at you and you feel like you`re all that in bed, it probably adds to your alpha-male status.
BEHAR: Do you think that his sexual prowess has something to do with his eye-hand coordination?
LUDWIG: Oh God. I don`t know if I want to go there. I think I`m the wrong person to ask. I just want to put that out there.
BEHAR: He`s looking for variety, yet this is the thing that astounds me. And Mike, you can jump into this, too. He`s looking for variety, but all of these girls look alike. They`re very, very similar type. So, how is that variety?
KARTH FOSTER, COMEDIAN: No, there`s variety. They have different color, shades of brown in their hair. Different cup sizes, zip codes.
MIKE WALTERS, ASSIGNMENT MANAGER, TMZ: Well, I`ll say one thing to add to what you`re talking about. And that is, one of the things that we reported was in Australia, Tiger Woods was there and one of his best friends set up for that girl, Rachel, to come to Australia. And guess what? He won the Australian Masters.
So, you know, one of the times when someone saw him when he was playing, he won the tournament. So I think there is some -- he`s able to connect it and go ahead and do well while some of this is going on if it really went on.
BEHAR: So, she was like a mascot?
WALTER: He needed her there, I guess. I don`t know.
LUDWIG: If you`re performing for somebody and you want to show off for somebody that can add to your game when you think about it.
FOSTER: It is very exciting.
BEHAR: Or it could make you nervous and, you know, blow the whole thing.
LUDWIG: It sounds like for him, it didn`t.
WALTERS: What`s interesting, too, is one of the girls, Jaimee Grubbs, I think her name is, looks like his wife. You`re talking about the style of woman. That one looks like his wife.
The other weird thing is it seems there`s a type. I don`t know about looks. They all kind of look the same but the type is, these girls are PR, VIP hosts, cocktail waitresses, someone that`s like in the service industry that kind of deals with celebrities. And I don`t know but...
BEHAR: So what are you saying? That he`s not interested in nuclear scientists?
WALTERS: Well, yes, that`s the thing. It`s weird that he goes to night clubs and hangs out with these girls. VIP hosts are supposed to help you get free vodka. They`re not supposed to come and hang out with the clients and sleep with them.
LUDWIG: Are you sure about that?
WALTERS: Well, it seems like in Tiger`s case, all these women do the same exact thing. They`re all PR, VIP hosts, nightclub managers that he goes and he sees.
If you`re going cheat on your wife -- which I`m not saying Tiger did, this is all allegedly -- but if you`re going to cheat on your wife, you don`t go to a nightclub where everyone can see you and a VIP manager that all they do is do this after you leave. That`s how I know about all this.
These VIP club people just talk.
LUDWIG: This just feeds his grandiosity thinking, "I can sleep with whoever I want and I can get away with it." These women are used to celebrities and they`re not going say anything if I don`t want them to.
BEHAR: Robi, come on, you`re a Freudian student. Right?
LUDWIG: Yes.
BEHAR: There are no accidents. Don`t you think he unconsciously wants this to get out? When you`re so indiscreet?
LUDWIG: You can say that or be so grandiose that you can say to yourself, "Even if it gets out, it`s really not going to matter." He can say to himself, "I`m Tiger Woods, I have all these sponsorships." You know.
BEHAR: How credible -- go ahead.
FOSTER: I love that he`s following the Nike motto. Just do it. And just did it. He did it in a parking lot apparently, behind a church, he did it in hotel rooms. And his wife just probably did it, too.
BEHAR: Mike, how credible are the claims of these women? These are all allegations. We don`t know if any of this is true.
WALTERS: Right.
BEHAR: Uchitel says he likes crazy, ambient sex. Lawton (ph) this other woman says that he`s into S&M and liked to do it in the church parking lot.
An unnamed person -- I don`t even know who it is and we`re just saying that -- throw it in the pot, said that he said his marriage is a sham. That`s a typical line of a married man who`s having sex outside the marriage. "My wife does not understand." Poor thing.
LUDWIG: What`s a married man going to say? "You know, I love my wife, she`s really good, but I just want more of it." Well, really.
WALTERS: Here`s what I would say about credibility. The way I`m looking at it from my standpoint too as a news manager here at TMZ is, you`ve got to look for proof. I hate doing any story on cheating in general at TMZ. I feel like it`s sort of like the bedroom police.
BEHAR: Come on, mike. Do you expect us to believe that?
WALTERS: That`s the truth. Listen. The truth is that a lot of these women have proof. You`ve heard the voice mail, you`ve seen the text messages. You`ve seen some of the e-mails that Brian, the person that works for him set up travel for Rachel. This is black and white proof and I try to stay right on that line because look, some of these women that are coming forward, one of them is a porn star. Of course you said you slept with Tiger Woods. I don`t believe you is my point.
What I do believe though is when you hear, "Hey, it`s Tiger Woods," on a voice mail, "please clear out your name because my wife just found my phone." When Rachel and this other girl, Jaimee Grubbs, have text messages from Tiger from his phone, I believe that. That I do believe. That`s how I monitor credibility.
BEHAR: "Saturday Night Live" got in on the Tiger party. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Earlier today, I had an unfortunate incident with my golf clubs. I was putting them away in the closet and one of them dropped on top of me. Luckily, my wife, Elin, was there to hand me the phone so I could call the paramedics.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hey, let me see those papers?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What? These papers?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BEHAR: Ok. Let`s discuss the racial angle for a second. I mean, how does this -- Karith, I know you`re not a representative of the black community, but since you`re here, I`m wondering what you hear from the black community.
FOSTER: Well, I just love how in the beginning of his career, people are saying, the first African-American golfer to be of this stature. He`s like, "No, I`m not black. I`m Amerasian."
BEHAR: He`s (INAUDIBLE).
FOSTER: Yes. Well, he`s certainly acting like a black athlete now.
BEHAR: He`s acting like a black athlete?
FOSTER: Yes he is.
BEHAR: That`s a little harsh, isn`t it?
FOSTER: No. I think he`s acting like an athlete, period. But he`s certainly acting -- you know, all of the women are white -- I might have a little more sympathy, not much, for someone who has a harem they basically if allegedly, if there might have been a sister in there. But I think it`s interesting that it`s like he seems to not want to be with anyone who represents who -- he`s not even with an Asian woman.
BEHAR: So do you think he should start sleeping with black women to restore his credibility?
FOSTER: No. No, no, no, I`m not saying that.
LUDWIG: I do. It would change the story, wouldn`t it?
BEHAR: It would change the story but...
FOSTER: I just think it`s very -- it`s just very interesting. I mean, I feel so awful for his wife. How embarrassing for her. Now, she`s basically being treated like a prostitute by being offered money to stay.
BEHAR: I know. That`s an interesting point. I think it`s $80 million was it?
FOSTER: Something.
BEHAR: To stay for seven years -- something like $80 million which is a drop in the bucket to him, he`s a billionaire. You say that`s kind of a form of prostitution.
FOSTER: How cheap must that that make her feel?
BEHAR: Well, I don`t know.
LUDWIG: No. I don`t think it`s that cheap. Take the money.
Also, he`s cheating with so many women. You get the sense he`s not in love with any of them. He is just enjoying himself.
BEHAR: This is about lust, Robi.
LUDWIG: This is -- right -- about lust and sex and in some ways that can make it easier for a wife to deal with. It`s much easier to deal with that idea even though we don`t like it, than oh, he`s with the love of his life. That`s something a wife would have a hard time dealing with and should have a hard time dealing with.
FOSTER: Isn`t it also that he`s allegedly doing things with these women that he would never do with his wife.
BEHAR: Like what?
(CROSSTALK)
LUDWIG: That`s why men go and hire prostitutes.
BEHAR: Well, we don`t know that he`s doing all those things.
LUDWIG: Allegedly. That`s why men hire prostitutes.
BEHAR: You have to be careful of that.
LUDWIG: I`m not saying he, but that`s why men hire prostitutes so they can do things that they would never do with the woman they love.
BEHAR: Just to go back to the African-American community, do you think that if he were going out with black women that the story would not be that big?
FOSTER: Yes, I do actually.
LUDWIG: Yes.
FOSTER: I do because race is huge in this country. Whether we want to think it`s not now that we have a black president, not that much has changed. It`s still taboo for a black man to be with a white woman and now that he`s with like allegedly about a dozen...
LUDWIG: But the statement would be different though. If he were with black women, he`d be saying, "I`m supporting my own kind." But he`s with white women he`s saying, "In order for me to be successful, it means I need to be with a white woman. And he`s basically saying I`m like every other black successful man, who says, in order to be successful I need my trophy white, or trophy girlfriend.
BEHAR: Mike, before we go, do you think this would have been a bigger story if these women were African-American?
MIKE WALTERS, ASSIGNMENT MANAGER, TMZ: You know I don`t...
BEHAR: With TMZ and everybody else?
WALTERS: I don`t think it has anything to do with that. I mean, what -- the one thing you were talking about was it love, and some of those stuff about the women. I mean, I think the point is, we were told that Rachel, one of the girls, actually was contacted by Tiger after all this actually happened.
I think it`s sort of the ego there to go ahead and call one of the mistresses after you`re crash and after the media knows about it. And we were told the word "love" was thrown around.
BEHAR: Well...
WALTERS: I don`t think it has anything to do with race. I think it has to do with money with all these girls.
BEHAR: But that`s typical male, to throw the word around.
Thanks, everybody for being here.
When we come back guess who`s coming to dinner? Levi Johnston joins me.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEVI JOHNSTON, FATHER OF SARAH PALIN`S GRANDSON: Well, they threw me out there and that came out that Sarah really didn`t like me. I knew Todd didn`t like me, I mean, so they were kind of trading me at the same time and back-stabbing me, you know, just putting up a front to me to make Sarah look good at the convention and everything else. And so I really don`t care anymore.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you hurt by all this?
JOHNSTON: I was, yes. Now, it`s just kind of like, all right, well, now it`s my turn.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BEHAR: Before the 2008 election, Levi Johnston was an unknown high school hockey player from Alaska. But faster than you can say at Bristol -- Bristol`s baby daddy, he became a household name. He`s been on TV and radio, he wrote an article for "Vanity Fair." And now, he`s a centerfold in "Playgirl" magazine.
Welcome, Levi.
JOHNSTON: Thank you.
BEHAR: That`s quite a resume.
JOHNSTON: Yes it is.
BEHAR: Already isn`t it?
BEHAR: Yes, I`m building it.
BEHAR: You`re building it.
JOHNSTON: Yes, I am.
BEHAR: Sarah -- we call her your faux mother-in-law. What do you call her?
JOHNSTON: Just Sarah.
BEHAR: Just plain old Sarah.
JOHNSTON: Just plain Sarah, yes.
BEHAR: Tall and long remember that show, whatever.
Now, she invited you for Thanksgiving because I saw her do that on the Oprah show. Did you go?
JOHNSTON: I didn`t. No.
BEHAR: How come?
JOHNSTON: I hung out with my family. I guess, my sister and...
BEHAR: Did you want to go?
JOHNSTON: No, not at all. No.
BEHAR: But didn`t you want to see Bristol and the baby?
JOHNSTON: I did. But I knew it would be a bad deal if I should up there. And we were actually thinking about myself, Tank, and my lawyer actually going down there and showing up, to see what they actually did but we didn`t do it.
BEHAR: But so how often do you see the baby?
JOHNSTON: As much as I can.
BEHAR: Well, she said some nice things about you on Oprah. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SARAH PALIN, AUTHOR, "AN AMERICAN LIFE": Because of course, he is a part of the family. And you want to bring him in the fold and kind of under your wing. And he needs that too, Oprah. I think he needs to know that he is loved and has the most beautiful child and this can all work out for good.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BEHAR: Ok. She loves you. Do you feel loved?
JOHNSTON: Yes. I really feel that.
BEHAR: Do you feel the love?
JOHNSTON: I`m feeling it. I`m feeling it, yes.
BEHAR: It`s coming through, isn`t it?
JOHNSTON: Sure. Yes.
BEHAR: She loves you. You don`t really believe her, do you?
JOHNSTON: No.
BEHAR: Now, why don`t you believe her?
JOHNSTON: Other things she`s said.
BEHAR: Like what?
JOHNSTON: The things I`ve heard. She`s offering Bristol things to get rid of me.
BEHAR: She`s what? Say that again?
JOHNSTON: Offering Bristol cars and her and Todd offering Bristol cars to get rid of me.
BEHAR: She wants to get rid of you?
JOHNSTON: Yes.
BEHAR: Why?
JOHNSTON: Apparently, I`m a bad kid.
BEHAR: You`re a bad kid. She didn`t think so at the Republican convention. She put you right there front and center. She thought you`re a good kid then.
JOHNSTON: I know.
BEHAR: So, what made her change?
JOHNSTON: I don`t know. I just believe you know, from day one, she didn`t like me and she used me to parade me out there so I could put on a smile and act like a happy family. And then after, after she lost she was like, "Get out, no more."
BEHAR: After she lost, you were toast.
JOHNSTON: Pretty much. Yes.
BEHAR: A lot of people say that there are some lies in her book and you take on a lot of that stuff in the "Vanity Fair" article. Like for instance, you say the Palin house was much different from what many people expect from a normal family. What was different there when you were there?
JOHNSTON: She -- I mean, the communication between Sarah, Todd and the kids is horrible.
BEHAR: It was horrible?
JOHNSTON: It was horrible...
BEHAR: Give me an example of like a typical -- you`re in the kitchen with the three of them and so what would happened?
JOHNSTON: Well first, she`d never been in the kitchen with the three of them. Todd`s in a kitchen, Sarah`s in her room. They`re never together. They`re never talking. Sarah`s never around. Bristol`s always raising Tripp or Trig and this...
BEHAR: Which one is yours? Tripp or Trig?
JOHNSTON: Tripp.
BEHAR: Yours is Tripp, Trig is the other baby that she just had, right?
JOHNSTON: Yes.
BEHAR: Sarah`s baby.
JOHNSTON: Yes.
BEHAR: Would you say -- another thing you say about her is that she called him a little retarded baby. Right?
JOHNSTON: She yes, she`s mentioned that. She said it a few times.
BEHAR: She denies that. She denies that.
JOHNSTON: She denies a lot of things.
BEHAR: I know. But that`s kind of like a rough thing to say about the baby that you just gave birth to, isn`t it. Or is she doing it with affection or what?
JOHNSTON: I mean, she`s doing it and also the way she`s saying it you know, she means as a joke I think but it`s...
BEHAR: She views it as a joke.
JOHNSTON: Yes.
BEHAR: But that`s not the kind -- if that`s true, what you`re saying, that`s not the kind of things that her fans want to hear her say.
JOHNSTON: No, definitely not.
BEHAR: Ok. And you say that she`s not the person that she projects. What`s the truth that you see? We don`t know -- I don`t know her, I`ve never met her. I only know what I see, the persona that she projects on television. So you know her personally. What is the truth about the real person?
JOHNSTON: You`ve seen her on TV, so I mean, you can tell that she`s fake if you really pay attention. She`s been caught in a lot of lies on TV. She denies a lot of things I`ve said. I mean, she`s a totally different person back home.
BEHAR: But why do you think that anybody watching this right now would believe you instead of her? Like you say that Todd and Sarah often slept in different beds; how do you know that?
JOHNSTON: Because I stayed there. You know I was there for what -- three years. I`ve never seen them sleep in the same room together.
BEHAR: Well, maybe he snores.
JOHNSTON: Yes, maybe, I don`t know.
BEHAR: Maybe she snores, you know.
And then you say things like -- that Bristol really raised Piper, who`s the younger child, right? How old is Piper, eight now?
JOHNSTON: Well, she`s probably about eight yes.
BEHAR: And that Bristol really -- so you`re sort of indicting Sarah as like a negligent mother or somebody who is not around.
JOHNSTON: I mean she`s not -- she isn`t around. But Bristol pretty much raised Trig, too.
BEHAR: Really?
JOHNSTON: I mean when they`re on the road, Bristol is there taking care of him and she was home taking care of Piper when Sarah was gone.
BEHAR: Let`s talk about Bristol for a minute. Let`s talk about that relationship. First of all, where did you meet Bristol?
JOHNSTON: We`ve always went to school together.
BEHAR: You went to high school together?
JOHNSTON: High school, middle school.
BEHAR: Middle school -- so you`re really like Romeo and Juliet.
JOHNSTON: Yes, sure.
BEHAR: And was it love at first sight when you first met each other or did it grow or what?
JOHNSTON: No, not really. I was a little hockey player, I was kind of doing my own thing. And finally by freshman year, we started dating.
BEHAR: You started dating in freshman year in high school.
JOHNSTON: Yes.
BEHAR: And when did you become -- how shall we put this -- intimate? Hold that thought. Stick around. More with Levi when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here to present the words of Levi Johnston, is Emmy-award winning actor and master thespian, Mr. William Shatner.
WILLIAM SHATNER, ACTOR: The first thing Sarah said to me at the hotel was, "You`ve got to cut your hair." I told her I didn`t want to. I had a mullet at the time.
Guess what? I shot a big ass bear.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BEHAR: Although the Palin traveling circus has become a punch line for late night comics, Levi Johnston is here and he seems to be in on the joke. It`s funny right?
JOHNSTON: Yes, it`s pretty funny.
BEHAR: You`ve got a sense of humor about some of the things people are saying about you.
JOHNSTON: You have to laugh about it. You never really get through it.
BEHAR: You have to laugh.
JOHNSTON: Yes.
BEHAR: Something that someone told me that -- Pat Buchanan, the pundit on MSNBC -- he said that, this is a quote, that "Todd Palin should have drowned you," because you`re so destructive to the Palin family, I guess.
How do you just deal with that? That`s a hateful statement. He should have killed you. No wonder you have a bodyguard.
JOHNSTON: Some of the stuff they say, it gets you worried a little bit, wondering who`s going to come around the corner and try to mess with you. You`ve just got to let it go and that`s why I do got people behind me and I have people watching my back.
BEHAR: But I mean, you can see where the right wing would be angry with you right?
JOHNSTON: Oh, yes.
BEHAR: I mean, some of the allegations, the things that you say about Sarah -- even these sort of like semi-harmless ones, like she wasn`t really an attentive mother, she let Bristol raise the kids. All of that sounds very inflammatory.
People say how do you know all of that. It`s really just your point of view so people see you as just somebody who`s starting trouble. You see that?
JOHNSTON: I guess. I don`t know.
BEHAR: Do you care?
JOHNSTON: No. I come out here and tell the truth. What people get out of it, you know, that`s their deal.
BEHAR: Sarah Palin, your faux mother-in-law -- I would call her -- she slammed you as a missing dad to Oprah. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OPRAH WINFREY, HOST, "THE OPRAH WINFREY SHOW": What happens when he comes to see the baby?
SARAH PALIN, AUTHOR, "AN AMERICAN LIFE": He`s quite busy with his media tours and hasn`t seen the baby for a while. But we will let that be the discussion between Bristol and Levi as they work out their relationship.
Levi forever will be the father of this most beautiful baby and I continue to hope for the best and to pray for Levi.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BEHAR: What do you respond to that?
JOHNSTON: I don`t know. I`m there as much as I can. I`ve been, you know, out doing shoots and TV. And as to that kind of thing, but you know, she was never home for her baby at the same time, so how she can go out there and dog me for that, it`s kind of ridiculous. But when I`m home I do try and see my kid. There are a lot of times they say no, so.
BEHAR: I meant to ask you before we went to break. I know this is a personal question, I`m going to ask it any way.
Because I`m interested to know, when you and Bristol became sexually active, were you teenagers? Yes, I think so, right?
JOHNSTON: Obviously we were teenagers. She got pregnant, of course, when she was 18.
BEHAR: Right. So, did you have sex in the Palin house?
JOHNSTON: I`m not really going to get into that...
BEHAR: You don`t want to say where?
JOHNSTON: No.
BEHAR: I`ll tell you where I first did and you tell me where you first did.
JOHNSTON: No. I`m not.
BEHAR: Mine was about 100 years ago, but still. It was good then.
All right. So you don`t want -- we`re going to come back with some more. We`ve got some more with Levi so stay right there. We`ll have a little more conversation.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BEHAR: OK, I`ll have more with Levi Johnston, but first, more dish on Tiger Woods. One report today suggests he was on pain medicines or Ambien during his car crash. Joining me to talk about Tiger`s alleged pill popping, is Gerald Posner Chief Investigative reporter for the Daily Beast and author of Miami Babylon. Gerald, you`ve done a lot of digging on this. Does Tiger have a pain pill addiction?
GERALD POSNER, THE DAILY BEAST: Well look, Joy here`s what I do know. I talked to somebody who`s familiar with his medical treatment in late 2007 and from July of `07 to the end of that year, I know that at least one physician raised with him the possibility that he was dosing on pain prescription pills OP, it`s like Vicodin, Percocet, does types of pills. OxyContin at a rate this doctor thought could lead to a problem. Nobody else in the Woods` camp in late 2007 thought it was a problem.
They were just worried that his use of those pain pills might take an edge of his game, but then, as you said a second ago, what do we have? The car accident a week ago and every trauma doctor I talk to says if you hit a fire hydrant, you hit a tree, your wife breaks the back of your escalate, and you`ve got lacerations on your face. What should be happening is that you have an adrenaline rush. Adrenaline is pumping through you. He`s a 33 year old world class athlete; he should be hyper alert when they arrive. And what`s he doing? He`s lying on the ground and snoring.
So something seems unusual to me and look the Florida highway patrol haven`t helped us because they didn`t do a test that night even though they heard the word, Ambien and somebody else told them he was on a prescription pain pill, they didn`t give him a test.
BEHAR: Uh - huh, but CNN can`t confirm any of this, but you seem to be clear and sure about it.
POSNER: Well I mean, OK, because here`s why, it depends on what you want to do when you talk about confirmation. I`ve been doing journalism for 25 years. I have 11 books. I put my journalistic neck on the line when I say this. Journalists have to have conversations with the Florida highway patrol. They can have those conversations for background and off the record. What happens is people won`t go on the record, but you can get the information. You can get it from multiple sources so that in the end, they believe they didn`t have the probable cause to do a test on him.
But I think if they were doing it again, they would have done a breathalyzer or blood test on him that night. But this is the key point. Athletes like Woods use all the time. You know, pain pills. They use narcotic pain pill to play through pain. That`s why fans love them. The difference between using them properly or getting an addiction problem is what we are talking about. So all we can say for sure with fact is that in late 2007, one doctor was concerned about his dosing of prescription pain pills. And then we have to jump forward to 2009. He has the accident and then one of the mistresses, Rachel Uchitel talks about him having crazy Ambien sex with her. I never even new what Ambien sex was until I looked it up in the internet.
BEHAR: What, what, what does it mean Ambien sex. It makes you drowsy. Although you know, with some guys, I know it`s a pleasure to be drowsy. I can understand that. But I mean, is it - does it turn you on? Is it like the new Quaalude or what?
POSNER: Well, that`s what I was wondering. So I went on and looked. So here`s now, Joy you tell me if you find this - this doesn`t sound very appealing to me. But evidently, it`s valued among the aficionados of Ambien sex for its amnesia powers. Since you do things during the process before you fall asleep and don`t remember them the next morning. Now some people - but you have to remember there was a lawsuit about a year ago from people using Ambien who in the middle of the night would go to the refrigerator to eat and they were getting heavier. And they didn`t remember and they didn`t know why they were putting on pounds. Well evidently here, people do things in sex -- it`s always used as a rape date drug with alcohol. So I was thinking, I don`t really see the pleasure of it but for some people obviously it has some allure.
BEHAR: OK. I mean, do you think he`s going to have to address these drug claims publicly?
POSNER: The agent Marks Steinberg who has managed his career superbly sent me a message that was very, very straightforward answer. And I think this going to be their position as long as they can hold it. Which is he`s treated by some of the best doctors in the world. They watch his dosing they understand his condition. This is a private matter, it`s his medical condition, and reprehensible for anyone to speculate about it. So therefore, I was reprehensibly was writing about it, but they`re going to try to keep the door closed on this. And Tiger probably has enough problems with the seven women who have come forward.
BEHAR: Nine. But who`s counting.
POSNER: It is remarkable even - you know I will say when it was one or two, and you know I reported last Wednesday, he had an offer on the table to his wife, Elin, to sort of you know, increase the size of the prenup, now the postnup. Since then, five or six more woman have come out. I`m sure the price has had to go up. Her humiliation and anger has to be up ten fold.
BEHAR: They have really handled this publicity -- publicly very badly I think. He should fire his publicist, whoever that happens to be.
POSNER: Well Joy you just hit the key thing. The people around him in the beginning were not at crisis management team. They were not the medium publicity people. They were the lawyers because they sought as a car accident with some potential problems. The highway patrol didn`t know they were going to charge him with reckless driving. They didn`t - they only gave him a lower charge afterwards. They didn`t know if they were going to get a search warrant for his medical records. So, he was surrounded by the lawyers. The lawyers helped him issue the first statement, which was a disaster. He never got ahead of the story. He never got in the right media team. And you`re so right because he hasn`t still got the right media team in there. He`s in a bunker. They`re ensconced in their house in the fortress down in Florida. And he`s allowing this to just play out. And he`s not ahead of the story at all.
BEHAR: Well he may survive it, but thanks any way. Thanks for coming on the show. Always interesting to hear your point of view.
POSNER: Thanks, Joy.
BEHAR: OK, and I`m back with Levi Johnston and we`re talking Palin, politics and "Playgirl." OK. Levi let me talk about the naked thing in "Playgirl." First of all, you backed out of the whole total full monty thing, didn`t you. Why?
LEVI JOHNSTON, FATHER OF SALIN PALIN`S GRANDSON: You know I just got to thinking, you know, I was just like, I`m only 18 or 19 years old, and I just didn`t want to get into the whole porno, porno sex thing.
BEHAR: You realize you`re a gay icon now? You realize that?
JOHNSTON: I do. Yup.
BEHAR: In fact someone told me there`s a gay porno movie with a look- alike of Levi. How do you feel about that?
JOHNSTON: OK, let them do what they`re going to do. But yes, I just didn`t want to get into that kind of thing, so, you know I just didn`t want to regret something when I was older.
BEHAR: What do you mean by that? Did you always wanted to pose for "Playgirl"?
JOHNSTON: No, I just mean like - I could have done it with on like wearing you know, like I did -
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: Oh I see you didn`t want to have the regrets that you`ve showed everything.
JOHNSTON: Yes.
BEHAR: But how does it feel to be a gay icon? It`s interesting to me, you come from a conservative background, right?
JOHNSTON: Right.
BEHAR: And Alaska`s not the most liberal state and yet you seem to be very comfortable being a gay icon.
JOHNSTON: Well you know, growing up in Wasilla. It is. I mean, I don`t know, I`ve never even seen a gay guy in Wasilla. I don`t think.
BEHAR: You never saw a gay guy? Look around they`re all
JOHNSTON: I mean I`ve seen gay guys but, you know, once I started doing all these tours and everything, you know, I just - you know, they`re people, too. I just you know -- it doesn`t matter to me. I just you know, more fans, that`s great.
BEHAR: Yes. Okay. We have a sneak peek of some of the new Levi "Playgirl" photos the long awaited hockey pics. Let`s see those. Oh, yeah. They`re going wild at the ramrod right now I`ll tell you right now. I like how they put my name on his behind. That`s very charming. Now, you know, do you think of this a pornography? Because your faux mother in laws said she sort of knocked you as you sort of in the porn business now.
JOHNSTON: I don`t really see it like that no.
BEHAR: You don`t. You see it as a great art? Michael Angelo level?
JOHNSTON: Sure, yes, beautiful yes.
BEHAR: Well you look damn good. I`ll tell you right now. I don`t want to be a cougar all over you. I have a couple of Twitter questions. You don`t twitter, do you?
JOHNSTON: I don`t, no.
BEHAR: OK, the Palin house, no, this is not it. This is it. Ask him why he thinks his penis is so special that anyone would want to see it? Well, that`s a crazy question because you already said you`re not showing it.
JOHNSTON: It is yes, that`s quite a question for someone to say, but I don`t know - I just --
BEHAR: Let`s see, if Sarah Palin decided to run for president or some other public office, would you feel obligated to disclose further things about her character?
JOHNSTON: no. I don`t think. You know, what I`ve -- what I haven`t said is going to come out in the book. But some things probably won`t ever be said --
BEHAR: When`s this book coming out?
JOHNSTON: I don`t have an exact date yet. But it will be out soon.
BEHAR: You keep threatening in some of the interviews I`ve seen that you have more and more stuff.
JOHNSTON: Well, I do have things. But I`m not -- there`s some things I won`t say and there are some things that are going to come out in the book.
BEHAR: Just one little tiny one for here.
JOHNSTON: That you probably want, I know.
BEHAR: It`s my show. I need a little something-something here.
JOHNSTON: No.
BEHAR: Nothing.
JOHNSTON: Nothing.
BEHAR: After all we`ve meant to each other. All right. Let`s see, Sarah says that she was very controlled by the GOP campaign leaders. You know, in her book. She`s all over the McCain people and Steve Schmidt, you know that right. Was Levi given strict rules also during the campaign by Sarah ordered by the GOP?
JOHNSTON: About the only thing I got was a smile, wave, shut up, don`t talk to anyone. Make me look good, basically.
BEHAR: How about the wardrobe they gave you? Tell me about that. In the "Vanity Fair" article, you say something about how she was delighted with all the clothes. And she was all excited about getting all these expensive clothes, right?
JOHNSTON: I think everyone was loving it. But yes.
BEHAR: But she kind of plays that down. You know, I`m just a country girl from Alaska.
JOHNSTON: Oh yes, yes. No.
BEHAR: You don`t buy it.
JOHNSTON: No.
BEHAR: What do you think about this other allegation that she`s been flying all over the place in her private place. And then she shows up in the town that`s she`s signing books for and then gets on the bus.
JOHNSTON: Yeah, she got a good little gig going. she`s got it on picture on the bus and everything. Yes.
BEHAR: Does it bug you that she`s so popular? She`s very popular. She`s got a high approval rating and it just went up again.
JOHNSTON: That`s good for her.
BEHAR: I thinks she`s more popular than you are.
JOHNSTON: NO she won`t be.
BEHAR: BUT you`re more popular in the gay community.
JOHNSTON: That`s what counts.
BEHAR: That`s what really counts. All right. Thank you Levi for doing this. I appreciate it. Did you have fun?
JOHNSTON: I did.
BEHAR: OK, great. Check Levi out, literally, in the February issue of "Playgirl." online sneak peeks are able now at playgirl.com. Everybody wants to see this. More when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OPRAH WINFREY: Have you thought about running for president of the United States in 2012? Have you just thought about it?
PALIN: It`s not on my radar screen right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP
BEHAR: OK, Sarah Palin may have been coy on the Oprah Show about a possible White House run in 2012. But new poll numbers show she`s a contender. But while some are coming into the big tent, others are leaving. More and more are saying the right is wrong. Andrew Sullivan Senior Editor at the Atlantic. And author of the conservative sol is one of them. Ok, welcome to the show, Andrew.
ANDREW SULLIVAN, SENIOR EDITOR, THE ATLANTIC: Thanks Joy.
BEHAR: Levi who was just on, he basically indicates and implies that he has a lot on Sarah Palin. Do you think there are other skeletons in her closet?
SULLIVAN: Yes.
(LAUGHTER)
BEHAR: You do?
SULLIVAN: I do. I think that the story of Sarah Palin has yet to be told.
BEHAR: The real story.
SULLIVAN: I think this book that she produced is essentially a work of magical realism. I don`t think she has much relationship with reality. I don`t think she has much relationship with reality. And I think at some point, if journalists do their job and if brave people stand up and tell the truth, we will find out who Sarah Palin really is. And we currently don`t know
BEHAR: Well her people are evil and nasty. They are not nice people. They send me nasty mail and everybody else who talks about it. Anything negative about Sarah Palin, they get hit with this stuff. You know.
SULLIVAN: Well, she tried -- she wanted to sue me for even asking questions. Factual questions. I`m not interested in whether she`s a good or bad person. I`m not interested in whether they are evil people around her. I`m interested in truth. What is the truth about this person who was put on the national ticket, having not been vetted in any way, and in which, the press was shut out from having real interaction with her during the campaign and now, she produces a back which is not fact-checked, not vetted, full of obvious errors -
BEHAR: Why is that?
SULLIVAN: That Harper Collins, a major publication has put out without any fact checking what so ever in order to make money. I find the whole thing just bizarre. I find the whole thing of a governor quitting in her first term when she wants to have a career, bizarre. There are so many bizarre questions including this extraordinary story of the birth of Trig, which is, on a basis, extraordinarily hard to believe the way she`s told it. Maybe there is some truth there that we don`t know fully know. Or she`s confusing --
BEHAR: What do you mean the way she`s told it? She gave birth to the baby --
SULLIVAN: You just don`t behave that way? No one behave that way.
BEHAR: Which way.
SULLIVAN: No one is eight months pregnant, thousands of miles away from home, as she says, in a hotel room in Dallas.
BEHAR: Oh, yes.
SULLIVAN: With a special needs child. Wakes up, bolt right up in bed, has a strange sensation low in her belly and tells the "Anchorage Daily News" that her water broke and doesn`t go to the hospital. No one does that.
BEHAR: Oh that`s a very interesting point.
SULLIVAN: Let alone, then give a speech, in her own book she says she gives a speech while she`s having contractions. She tells a joke in the speech.
BEHAR: I see.
SULLIVAN: She says, big laughs, more contractions.
BEHAR: Is no one investigating this? She`s getting a pass on a lot of things.
SULLIVAN: The (UNINTELLIGIBLE) media didn`t do any investigations to the plausibility of this story. But then she gets on two airplanes back to Alaska in labor and the "Anchorage Daily News" -
BEHAR: Now how do you -
SULLIVAN: This is all in the public record, not me.
BEHAR: Yes, yes, yes.
SULLIVAN: The Anchorage Daily News asked the flight attendants, well goodness, how did you let a woman eight months pregnant, whose water has broken according to her, who is experiencing contractions according to her on the place. An Alaska Airline spokeswoman says they were not aware she was pregnant.
BEHAR: So are you saying there`s some kind of cover up?
SULLIVAN: I have no idea, Joy.
BEHAR: So you`re just putting these pieces together.
SULLIVAN: I have no idea. I`ve been trying to make -
BEHAR: Alleging to -
SULLIVAN: I`m alleging anything.
BEHAR: Conjecturing -
SULLIVAN: No, I`m not. Not even conjecturing.
BEHAR: What are you?
SULLIVAN: I am simply saying I cannot believe the story that she`s told.
BEHAR: It just doesn`t make sense to you.
SULLIVAN: Would someone please make sense of this story for me? I mean, that`s all I`m saying. I`ve read this buck, I`ve gone out of my mind trying to understand the story. It does not make any sense. I believe in Judge Judy in a way. If it doesn`t make sense, it isn`t true.
BEHAR: If the glove doesn`t fit - you must acquit. Not that?
SULLIVAN: Judge Judy, who knows how to judge
BEHAR: Whether someone`s telling the truth or not
SULLIVAN: Even when -- if you just take a few steps back and say, would you do this. Does this make sense you know?
BEHAR: Look at the way they did the James Frye book, A Million Little Pieces - he was humiliated on Oprah because it was a memoire wasn`t true. And yet this book just slides through.
SULLIVAN: I think it`s Oprah Winfrey`s second Million Little Pieces disaster and will become so over time.
BEHAR: A ha.
SULLIVAN: I think the story is just beginning, Joy.
BEHAR: But the thing about her though is that she could be a contender for the presidency. I mean, she was a heartbeat away the last time and it could happen again.
SULLIVAN: John McCain was pooh-poohing people who said we`re not attacking her. We`re not attacking her. The press is doing our job. Our job is to ask questions. Her job is to answer them. Answer them. Don`t run away. Don`t forbid any press conference conferences. You sit down and answer your toughest critic did. Like Margaret Thatcher did. Like real feminist do who don`t accept double standards in politics. Who go out there and face their opponents and tackle the issues and talk about factual questions.
BEHAR: Well, that`s not happening with her.
SULLIVAN: Why?
BEHAR: Because she`s - she`s not legitimate that`s why -- because she`s not legit.
SULLIVAN: She`s not legitimate and yet the leader of the Republican party.
BEHAR: Well then they better get their act together over there.
SULLIVAN: No but the more she`s criticized the more they love her.
BEHAR: I know, I know. She`s the underdog. They identify. It`s a psychological thing.
SULLIVAN: Joy, I am an old fashioned conservative as much as I really think taxes are too high. I think spending is way out of control. I`d like to balance the budget, I would like to budget our wars, I would like to actually prepare for wars before we invade countries. I believe in a conservatism that is not as crazy as these people are. And we have to fight and take the Republican Party back or take the conservative movement back from these, well, nutcases in some respect.
BEHAR: Ok, Andrew, come back in a few minutes. We`re going to stay with Andrew. We`ll be right back. I think you`re right.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GLENN BECK: This president has exposed himself as a guy over and over again who has a deep seated hatred for white people or the white culture, I don`t know what it is. I`m not saying that he doesn`t like white people. I`m saying he has a problem. He has -- this guy is, I believe, a racist.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BEHAR: I`m back with ex-conservative heavyweight Andrew Sullivan, who last week bailed on the right. You did.
SULLIVAN: Well, I reiterated why. I wrote a book called "The Conservative Soul" several years ago saying I thought the conservative movement lost its bearings. One of the ways it has lost its bearings is over religion, for example. Now, I happen to be a believing Christian. I also believe that --
BEHAR: You believe in God?
SULLIVAN: I absolutely believe in God.
BEHAR: You`re Catholic?
SULLIVAN: I`m a Catholic.
BEHAR: You go to mass?
SULLIVAN: Yes.
BEHAR: Do you do the -- the thing on Sunday? Do you do it?
SULLIVAN: The thing?
BEHAR: You know - with the host in the mouth, you know --
SULLIVAN: I`ve actually withdrawn myself from communion because I`m in such conflict with my own church and I respect it enough not to fully disobey it, but I still go because I love my faith and my church and I love Jesus and Jesus loves me. And the fact the church --
BEHAR: Does Jesus love Glenn Beck, though? Do you think?
SULLIVAN: Absolutely.
BEHAR: He loves Glenn Beck. What is with Glenn Beck?
SULLIVAN: Jesus is about loving your enemies, not your friends.
BEHAR: If Jesus came back now, he would be appalled what`s going on in religions. But --
SULLIVAN: He would notice we`re all fallen creatures and we get wrapped up in ourselves too much.
BEHAR: Is Glenn Beck and Limbaugh, are they the reason you want to leave the Republican Party?
SULLIVAN: Well they`re part of it. Look, no one`s history, no one`s character that you look at like Barack Obama`s agree with his polici8es or disagree with them. He is a thoroughly decent human being. To call that thoroughly decent human being who is trying to bring people together as I believe he is, a racist is just disgusting.
BEHAR: It`s disgusting but he gets away with it. He has more viewers than anybody else on cable.
SULLIVAN: He does. Because if you say the vilest things, you`ll get -- in the long run, your credibility will decline. If you believe in the real values of truth telling and of moderation, and of balanced budgets, I mean some of the things that Glenn Beck believes in I believe in. I believe, for example, we need to cut spending dramatically. And I have thoughts about how to do it.
BEHAR: Did you say that when Bush was in office? Did the Republicans say that when he was in office?
SULLIVAN: Absolutely. In 2002, No they didn`t.
BEHAR: They didn`t say a word.
SULLIVAN: But I can site you one of my pieces in 2002 "hey, big spender" in Time magazine criticizing Bush`s spending policies. I was one of the few people from the beginning - I was the first one to say he`s torturing people against the law when he was.
BEHAR: Right.
SULLIVAN: These things matter, Joy.
BEHAR: I know that but believe me it seems as though the Bush Administration has put us in the position we`re in now and Obama keeps getting the flak for it. But before you go, I know because you`re turning into a little bit of a Lefty --
SULLIVAN: I`m not a Lefty.
BEHAR: This is to get you in the mood for it, we got you this gift basket
SULLIVAN: Oh no. Oh no.
BEHAR: So that you can maybe think about it. Here`s a copy of "The Nation."
SULLIVAN: No.
BEHAR: These cupcakes are cruelty free.
SULLIVAN: No.
BEHAR: Here`s a copy of "Sicko" and what else have we got here. The Dixie Chicks, those troublemakers. I love them.
SULLIVAN: They`re all right.
BEHAR: Here`s Bruce Springsteen -
SULLIVAN: I love - Bill Maher was a friend of mine. I love Bruce Springsteen.
BEHAR: Bill Maher. Cheech and Chong for those druggies out there. Andrew Sullivan, thank you. Please come back. Will you come back?
SULLIVAN: Sure, Joy.
BEHAR: OK, and you come back tomorrow. We`ll have another great show for you. Good night, everybody. Champagne for the liberal.
END
