religion is tightly woven in the fabric of american life. how we worship and where we worship is changing. what may change is how we spend our money and whether we choose to have it better coincide with our values. i'm christine romans, thanks for watching. here is a look at our top stories. a brutal winter storm blasting parts of the east coast. up to 20 inches from the mid atlantic states up to new york. strong winds creating near-whiteout conditions. everybody should stay off the road according to the people trying to clear the roads. senate democrats are on track to pass health care reform by christmas. ben nelson of nebraska is supporting the bill, giving them

enough votes against the republicans trying to block it. some travelers bedding down for the night in the last place they want to be. an airport. many flights have been canceled around washington, d.c. some airports closed until tomorrow morning. karen mcginnis, watching this in the weather center. >> we have been watching this in new york city. in the past 45 minutes i have watched this snow come down at a terrific rate. it picked up rather dramatically since about 4:00 p.m. light snow flurries. you can see how heavy it is. quite a tremendous snowfall rate. the traffic has staperred off. new york city is expecting between ten and 15 inches of snowfall as this classic nor'easter moves up the coast. from the mid atlantic where it has shut down quite a few interstates. in virginia alone they have reported more than 4,000 traffic accidents. this area of low pressure treks

towards the northeast. from philadelphia to boston, between ten and 24 inches of snowfall. the nation's capital will rival the snowstorm of 1922, the knickerbocker storm that produced 28 to 33 inches of snow. >> cnn will have complete coverage of the storm at 10:00. right now stay tuned for "larry king live." >> larry: tonight, president obama slams the money men. >> i did not run for office to be helping out a bunch of fat cat bankers on wall street. >> larry: and tells them to pay their profits forward. >> and now that they're back on

their feet, we expect an extraordinary commitment from them to help rebuild our economy. >> larry: donald trump joins us with what he thinks. and the fallout from tiger woods' infidelity, corporate backers backing out of deals with the disgraced golfer. will his self-imposed exile repair a reputation? nba bad boy dennis rodman is here with what it will take for tiger to claw his way out of controversy. plus ed harris tells us why a bloody world war ii battle is in the news now. next on "larry king live." tonight, penn gillette, author and producer, libertarian, a new webcast from larry elder called "we've got a country to save.com.

and robert reich, good to see robert again, professor of public policy university of california, berkeley, former labor secretary in the clinton administration. and here in new york, s.e. cupp the conservative columnist of "the "new york daily news". obama pressed wall street bankers urging them to help rebuild the economy. listen to what he said. >> my main message in today's meeting was very simple. that america's banks received extraordinary assistance from american taxpayers to rebuild their industry and now that they're back on their feet, we expect an inordinate -- extraordinary commitment from them to help rebuild our economy. >> larry: let's start with miss cupp. what do you make of it? >> well, there's a couple of problems. tough talk is great, larry, but a little disingenuous when we're looking at a health care bill that's going to strangle small businesses. that's one. two, you know, i -- i -- i think

this is a bit of a dog and pony show. these bankers are in a really tough spot, getting pressure from regulators not to lend, and now obama is coming in and saying lend or else. you know, the lend or else is what got us here in the first place. lending to unqualified borrowers. >> larry: what does he do with all of the people out there that need mortgages and need money? >> i understand but you have to appreciate the fact that these bankers are trying to be responsible at a time when they've been excoriated for being irresponsible, and rightly so. >> robert reich, what's your read? >> the public has provided these bankers and banks with hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars to make up for the mess they created initially. now so many small businesses, main street businesses, people with mortgages and everybody else are finding they can't get credit. there's no quid pro quo. there's no deal here. bankers are getting ready for gigantic end-of-year bonuses something on the order of $20 to $30 billion. of course, obama is going to

have a dog and pony show. i hope it's more than that. i hope he actually says to them and says to members of congress, look, we're not going to allow wall street to get away with this. we're not going to allow them to sick their lobbyists on congress and prevent congress from generating real reforms. this kind of stuff doesn't happen again. >> larry: on "60 minutes" last night, the president hit out at wall street bankers, called them fat cats. watch. >> i did not run for office to be helping out a bunch of fat cat bankers on wall street. the only ones that will be paying out these fat bonuses are the ones that have now paid back that t.a.r.p. money. >> do you think that's why they paid it back so quickly? >> i think in some cases that was a motivation which tells me the people on wall street still don't get it. >> larry: if you've had a bad year, how do you justify a big bonus? >> well, how do you justify being bailed out for making bad

decisions? we've had a policy in this country for many, many years that says if you have a pulse, you shall be able to apply and get a mortgage. we had freddie, fannie, then we have the community reinvestment act. that distort the behavior of borrower and lender. they get in trouble and we bail them out. then we tell them to lend, that they ought not lend. let capitalism work and let them deal with consequences of bad decisions. if we had done that, we wouldn't be in the situation in the first place. going forward, that's what we ought to do. >> larry: in fairness, president bush started doing that, right? >> no. we've had freddie and fannie for a number of years. >> larry: no, in bailing out the banks. >> i agree with you. obama as senator voted for it. now he's acting as if it was a rash decision. he is one of the ones who supported it. we shouldn't have gotten involved in this at all. the banks should have failed. many of them didn't even want the t.a.r.p. money and those that were solvent could have bailed out the other ones. that's the way capitalism is supposed to work.

>> larry: penn gillette, the report was he was rather cordial with the bankers. does that surprise you, penn? >> no, because of simply numbers. there are not that many bankers. say whatever bad you want about them. things are going badly, people are looking for a scapegoat. when he says they're getting, you know, $10 million he bonuses, that's a huge number, but $700 billion it's really like he's talking about, what, a billion is a thousand millions so it's like one penny on $7,000? i mean, the numbers have to be thought about when you're talking about how much is being spent and trillions of dollars being thrown around. the president doesn't have time to talk about a $10 million bonus. it's not the bonuses that are the problem. >> larry: do the bankers get it, s.e.? >> i think they do. frankly saying the bankers don't get it and doing this public scolding. calling them fat cats. >> larry: he apparently didn't privately scold. >> well, i don't know. i wasn't in the room. but all accounts are that it was friendly. of course, they watched "60

minutes." it was a scolding, very undignified and i think it makes the obama administration look a little out of touch. this administration has not yet learned that they don't have to say every thought that comes into their head. valerie jarrett today came out after the meeting and basically implied we shouldn't really trust these business leaders. that's not an appropriate or professional thing to say. i think this administration needs to take back some dignity and professionalism. >> larry: we'll take a break and be back with more. robert i'll come right back starting with you. with penn gillette, larry elder, robert rrk eich, s.e. cupp, don't go away.

>> larry: proech professor reich, the key people are wall street insiders, aren't they? >> the fact of the matter is, larry, this administration has tried to damp down, camp down regulate wall street. but it needs to much more. it is a matter of deeds. wall street is not responsible. wall street has demonstrated irresponsibility again and again. to be on the verge of awarding $20 billion to $30 billion in bonuses in the face of all of the money from taxpayers that went to wall street that the inspector general of the t.a.r.p. funds say much of which

is never going to be returned to taxpayers is the height of hubris. they should return it with interest and break them up, break up the big ones and resurrect glass-steagall. >> larry, do you think government has no say in this at all? >> you have to regulate against fraud and abuse. every regulation has a reaction. the banks try to find a way around it. you police them so they don't cheat people but there is not a lot beyond that you should do or could do. these are reckless decisions and people deal with the consequences. that is how you let the next guy down the road improve his behavior. >> larry: penn jillette, do you

oppose -- >> does he say taxpayers get the money back? that seems insane to me. if you give me, larry, you give me $700 billion. you can call me anything you want any time on any show you want anywhere. deal? >> larry: good point, isn't it s.e. cupp? >> absolutely. but the obama administration is indignant forgetting the fact they were behind these bailouts to begin with and scolding them for using the money seems a little misplaced. the obama administration has to realize their own culpability. >> larry: president obama sat down with oprah winfrey and she asked him how he would grade himself?

>> the economy is growing again. we are on our way out of iraq. i think we've got the best possible plan for afghanistan. we have reset our image around the world. we are -- we have achieved an international consensus around the need for iran and north korea to disable their nuclear weapons and i think that we're going to pass the most significant piece of social legislation since social security, and that's health insurance for every american. >> larry: let me get the panel's reaction after this. no way! way. ♪ - sure, cake or pie? - pie. - apple or cherry? - cherry. oil or cream? oil or cream? cream. some use hydrogenated oil. reddi-wip uses real dairy cream. nothing's more real than reddi-wip.

>> larry: before we discuss health care, let's get the panel's reaction to the record card? what grade do you give the president? >> he said b plus. that's the only possible answer you can give. any president, any time in history, any human being. if you ask me how i am as a husband, a driver, a juggler, a magician, i will answer b plus. higher than that, you're an ass. lower than that, you're

pathologically honest. the only possible answer is b plus. i would go to a minus if i checked my rear view mirror and that's for all of those. >> larry elder, what grade do you give? >> i would point out the american people had him at 43%, 44% in the latest rasmussen poll. if he were run again today, he would not be elected. >> larry: depending who ran against him, wouldn't it? >> that's true. if i ran, he probably would get elected. i would give him a d minus on the economy. i like what he's doing in afghanistan. don't like the fact that he put a deadline on it. and regarding our nato allies, yes, they do like him a lot better than george w. bush. until very recently they did not put a single combat troop in afghanistan. >> larry: what's your overall grade? >> overall grade on foreign policy, a b plus on afghanistan except for the fact that he has a deadline. i give him an a continuing the bush policies on iraq.

the rest of it, iran is still building a nuke. north korea has not backed down and israelis and palestinians are upset with him because he told the israelis not to build any more settlements. not to expand them. >> larry: i asked a simple question, got an involved answer. >> a d. >> larry: a d, okay. sounded like it would be a c based on the a in there, but professor reich -- >> depends how much weight you give the a. >> larry: the only man who grades papers might have a thought. what would you give him? >> i've been doing it all day, larry. in terms of aspiration and goals and ideals i would give him an a. in terms of effort, just a sheer brute, getting in there and trying, the administration i give an a minus maybe an a in terms of deliverables, what they've done so far, i have to be a much harsher grader, b minus at best. i'm worried mostly about the economy. i think that there is no reason for the obama administration to

claim that we're out of the woods. most americans don't believe it. >> larry: and s.e., your grade? >> it's almost christmas. i'm going to be charitable and give him a d minus. >> larry: that's charitable? >> yeah. i don't want to be the scold here and say f. but systematically is dismantling our national security, we're at record unemployment. he is going to have to answer for geithner and holder come 2012. if i'm an objective strategist, thinking about his chances, i'm very concerned because of those two issues. health care is not going to matter. i can tell you that right now. afghanistan is not going to matter. it will be the economy, unemployment and holder's decisions on cia interrogations and the 9/11 terrorists. >> larry: two senior sources have told cnn senior democrats are headed toward dropping the idea to allow 55 to 64-year-olds to buy into medicare because of the opposition from independent senator joe lieberman. senate democrats had an

emergency meeting to discuss the issue, which threatens to derail health care. the medicare buy-in concept was intended to -- i hope you're hearing me. i'm hearing lieberman. was intended to appease liberals. up set that democratic leaders were dropping a public option. that ran into a wall when lieberman said he would support a gop filibuster to block health care if a medicare provision was in the bill. what do you make of this compromise, penn? >> well, it kind of means there isn't much left of the health care in terms of any sort of public option. it's now just very similar to what we have, which is not good. >> larry: what do you think, larry? >> the whole thing is a bad idea. the idea was that it was not going to increase the deficit and it won't for the first ten years because for the first four years, money is coming in without anything going out. the next ten years and the next

ten years after that, money will be going out and less will be coming in. so, he's not going to fulfill his promise that this is not going to break the bank. it is going to break the bank. it is a rotten idea for government to get more involved in health care than it already is. >> larry: you don't think there's a health care crisis with 48 million uninsured, larry? >> there are more ways of dealing with it. including letting people buy insurance across state lines, giving individuals the same kind of tax breaks that is businesses have, buying insurance across state lines, allowing more competition. that's what will bring down the costs. to put on millions of people and make this guy pay for that guy's health care and to tell people with a straight face it's not going to increase overall cost is nonsense. >> larry: professor reich, am i my brother's keeper? >> we're all in the same boat together. a lot of good things in the health bill even if the compromise comes apart. telling and requiring that health insurance companies not look at pre-existing conditions and not drop people because they get sick and also recovering 31 million more americans is good.

what i'm most concerned about in the bill is there is not sufficient competition among private insurance companies. the entire insurance system, even in the bill, still depends on private for-profit insurance companies and there's just -- we know that in at least nine states, two private insurance companies dominate 85% of the market. they are consolidating like mad. there is no public option in that bill right now. i think that's dangerous. >> larry: s.e.? >> this health care bill, i think, is a disaster for small businesses. it's going to strangle small businesses. it's not 48 million uninsured. it's far less. that number has become sort of ubiquitous. >> larry: how do you know? >> i called the census bureau. i think 11 million of that number is illegal immigrants. 4 to 5 million of that number are people my age who don't want health insurance but could afford it. when you get really right down to it it's more like 9 million.

not that they should be ignored. but why would we trample on the rights of the many to satisfy the rights of the few when most of us are pretty satisfied with what we have? we're going to be putting small businesses out of business because we're going to require them -- why would a small business owner, who can save 8% per employee by siphoning them off into some government health care option, why would they choose private health care? >> larry: we know donald trump has something to say about obama's fat cat remark and a few other topics. he'll sound off right after the break. mr. evans? this is janice from onstar.

i have received an automatic signal you've been in a front-end crash. do you need help? yeah. i'll contact emergency services and stay with you. you okay? yeah. onstar. standard for one year on 15 chevy models. and when my symptoms-the coughing, wheezing, tightness in my chest came back- i knew i had to see my doctor. he told me i had choices in controller medicines. we chose symbicort. symbicort starts to improve my lung function within 15 minutes. that's important to me because i know the two medicines in symbicort are beginning to treat my symptoms and helping me take control of my asthma. and that makes symbicort a good choice for me. symbicort will not replace a rescue inhaler for sudden symptoms. and should not be taken more than twice a day. symbicort contains formoterol. medicines like formoterol may increase the chance of asthma-related death. so, it is not for people whose asthma

is well controlled on other asthma medicines. see your doctor if your asthma does not improve or gets worse. i know symbicort won't replace a rescue inhaler. within 15 minutes symbicort starts to improve my lung function and begins to treat my symptoms. that makes symbicort a good choice for me. you have choices. ask your doctor if symbicort is right for you. (announcer) if you cannot afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help.

>> larry: joining us now by phone is donald trump. donald, obama sat down with the bankers at the white house. it wasn't just a photo-op. you think they're listening to him? >> i think they're probably not listening to him, larry. we're in a situation where banks are not lending at all. they obviously don't have very much respect for the president, so it's a problem. but i saw the folks over at the white house. i just saw a newscast.

they're obviously not listening. you're not going to get the economy going unless the banks start to lend, and they are not lending to anybody for virtually any reason. >> larry: but they took all this money. what are they doing with it? >> buying airplanes, like jamie diamond at jp morgan chase has a whole big fleet of planes and, i understand, building a magnificent hangar, doing lots of wonderful things. they're not loaning money. >> larry: how do they get away with it? don't they put a stipulation on the loans we gave them? >> i don't think they put much of a stipulation. you see what's going on. i can say you can have the finest job in the country. you can have the finest tenants in the country if you go, as an example, for a mortgage to build a building or construction loan, the banks will tell you, we love you very much but there is -- there are no loans. loans are not available. i have cases where i have buildings where people bought a unit but can't get money to close the unit. they just can't what they call end loans. they can't get them under any circumstances, great buildings.

so, the banks took in billions of dollars. i don't know what they're doing with the money. i can tell you one thing they're not doing with it is lending. another thing. many banks you used to have new york, chase, jp morgan, those two merged, chemical bank, you had them all over the place. today, you have very few banks. they've all merged. they've become monsters. if they go bad it's going to be a catastrophe. they should do something to break up the big banks. >> larry: is the president between a rock and a hard place here? >> i don't think so. i think he is trying very hard but the banks are not listening. >> larry: what does he do? >> he has to get them to loan money and put out the loans. if they don't do that, they're showing a great lack of respect for the president. >> larry: do they need more regulation? >> i don't think they need more regulation, larry. something is haywire. it's very interesting. rates are very low, but you can't get money. in theory, if you can't get money, rates should be high.

but rates are record low but nobody can get money. strong people, really good people, people with high credit ratings, cannot get money. so, something is wrong with the system. >> larry: the obvious, how did we get to this? >> well, look, it's been a long road. it's been a long and winding road. it was a mess a year ago. the various folks did really, i think, the right thing by stuffing the banks with money. every bank would have been out of business, no matter how strong it was. you would have had a run on the system, a run on the banks. i listened to a lot of people saying they shouldn't have done that. let capitalism work. that would have been fine, but we would have gone through a ten-year depression and we were really right there. they did the right thing in putting the money into the banks. it kept the system alive. the problem is, larry, banks are not loaning the money. >> larry: overall in the economy, how is the president doing? >> i think you would have to say he's working very, very hard.

i would like to say incomplete. you don't know until you see -- you know, finances are a very interesting and very complex thing. you don't really know what's going to happen until you can look out with a crystal ball four or five years. nobody can do that. really the word would be "incomplete." he is trying hard. he's doing his best. >> larry: is the recession over? >> the recession is over for the stock market, because the stock market seems to go up. now, maybe it's either a great indicator, leading indicator or it's going to be one hell of a bubble. it's going to be a blast. because something's wrong. the stock market is doing well and everything else is doing badly. and i have friends that run these big companies, big public companies. they say they're doing terribly but their stock keeps going up. >> larry: why is the stock market happy when unemployment goes up? >> nobody knows the answer. that's why either a leading indicator, which would be wonderful, or a bubble like you've never seen before. >> larry: are you optimistic? >> i'm pretty optimistic.

again, we have no banking system. we have no banks. we have nobody to lend money to do projects. if i want to do a project where i'm going to employ thousands of people to build it, you can't get money from a bank. until you get the banking system working and make it effective, you are not going to have much of an economy, larry. you're going to have huge unemployment. >> larry: what do you make of that new gigantic city center in las vegas? >> total catastrophe. first of all, it cost billions more than it was anticipated to, so that you have to blame the company for and the people leading it. it turned out to be a total catastrophe. >> larry: we'll take a break. when we come back we'll talk about another area of expertise, branding and tiger woods. don't go away. e crashed. whoops, you lost your phone and you're disoriented. i'm not disoriented. now you are. onstar automatic crash response can call to see if you're ok. onstar emergency. is everything ok howie? you don't answer, they can automatically send help to your exact location.

i think i'll ride with you. the award-winning malibu. from chevy.

i'm drew griffin at the cnn world headquarters in atlanta. here's a look at our top stories. senate democrats say they are on track to pass health care reform by christmas. party leaders had to convince bell nelson to support the bill. that gives them enough votes to overcome republican efforts to block it. once it passes it has to go to the house and reconciled with the version passed by the house last month. a brutal winter storm is blasting the east coast. 20 inches of snow through the mid atlantic through new york. hundreds of thousands are without power and five deaths have been reported in virginia and in ohio. some travelers are having to bed down in airports. flights are delayed. airports are shut down and the worst is probably yet to come. a delta spokesperson told cnn

they have canceled just over 500 flights at the affected airports on the east coast. karen, this has been a mess in the air and on the ground. >> yes. it couldn't come at a worse time, folks are trying to get their holiday shopping done and the commerce people, the commercial people were expecting a big weekend. here we go with a classic nor'easter that could rival some of the records. i don't think we are going to shatter records. this is going to rank in the top five, definitely in the top ten. this is a live picture of herald square, west 34th and broadway. i have watched the heavy bands of snow showers move in. we watched a person carrying a cart and some children trying to walk across the street. a person trying to clean off their car. just wasn't happening. the snow has come down rather fantastically in the last couple of hours. this is a map of virginia and

power outages. richmond, williamsberg, more towards fairfax and frederi fredericksburg. more outages. the airport is not closed but the runways at washington's national and dulles are not running because the snowfall has been coming down all day long. drew, back to you. >> plenty of this and more tonight at 10:00. we have the live coverage of current conditions on the bottom of your screen. but now stay tuned for more "larry king live." okay i'll hold. she's holding. wha? (announcer) progresso. you gotta taste this soup. it's not always easy living with copd, but i try not to let it hold me back... whether i'm at the batting cages... down by the lake or... fishing at the shore. i'm breathing better... with spiriva. announcer: spiriva is the only once-daily inhaled maintenance treatment

for both forms of copd, which includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema. i take it every day. it keeps my airways open... to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announcer: spiriva does not replace fast-acting inhalers for sudden symptoms. stop taking spiriva and call your doctor if your breathing suddenly worsens, your throat or tongue swells, you get hives, or have vision changes or eye pain. tell your doctor if you have glaucoma, problems passing urine or an enlarged prostate, as these may worsen with spiriva. also discuss the medicines you take, even eye drops. side effects may include dry mouth, constipation and trouble passing urine. my doctor said i could be doing more to breathe better and now i am. announcer: ask your doctor about lifestyle changes and once-daily spiriva.

(announcer) some people just know how to build things well. give you and your loved ones an expertly engineered mercedes benz at the winter event going on now. but hurry - the offer ends january 4th. >> larry: donald trump is still with us. and dennis rodman who knows about being in the eye of a storm. there he is in miami. the possess sor of five

championship rings. donald, give us your idea of dennis rodman? >> dennis is a winner. he has been on "the apprentice." he is a champion. he has five rings. how many people have five rings at everything. dennis knows i like him a lot and he was great on the show. by the way the ratings for fantastic so i like him more. >> okay, dennis, what is your thoughts on the whole tiger woods thing? >> my thoughts are like donald's. >> he is going to have to work on his home life. i'm one to say that, right?

we have built this man to be a great god. we didn't ask tiger woods to say i'm not great, i'm just good. but i think we all love tiger. he is a great guy. he's a great golfer. i'm pretty sure he's a great dad. and all these girls are coming out right now just making all these -- >> larry: what about the endorsements? nike is sticking by him. the rest are wavering and accenture dropped him. >> you have to weigh all the options and with me i lost a couple of endorsements. it's not all about endorsements. it's about fixing your life and understanding how the world works. i think tiger has made over $1 billion in less than ten years. he has done a lot of great things for people around the world. i think he's not bigger than golf. golf needs him. and the people need him. i think as far as americans, we are so forgiving, no matter what we do in the world, we could be normal, abnormal, we could be

great, we could be fantastic. we could be infamous. we could be famous. no matter what we do, people here in america is always going to give you a second, third chance. >> larry: donald, if you had a product, would you have tiger endorse it? >> the answer is always yes, because he's just a guy that i like a lot. but it really would depend on what the product is. i can see accenture maybe taking their stance. i can also see -- i never had a doubt that nike, that's all about hitting the ball. i never had a doubt that nike would stay with him and some of the others will stay with him. tiger will be a little different. his image over the years will be a lot different probably than it was. and that's not necessarily so bad. i mean, look at dennis. dennis' image is slightly different. and dennis does just fine. hey, larry, tiger will be a different guy. but i agree with dennis. he has a chance to be bigger and better than ever. that's a big statement. >> larry: let me get a break. back with more. more tiger talk with two top people, dennis rodman and donald

trump, together here. more after this.

>> larry: dennis rodman has a wonderful organization. he raises money for a homeless shelter in florida. go to rodmanralph.org. i salute you for that, dense nis. >> thank you, brother. >> larry: people are complaining that mr. knight of nike is supporting him. he's taken a lot of hits for that. do you understand that? >> i'm supporting him also, so they have to complain against me and dennis. i know plenty that are supporting him. it's his personal life. it's just one of those things. it's unfortunate. i certainly never saw tiger in this light, but you know what? i know him and like him. he happens to be a good guy. >> larry: dennis, should he come forward in another form than

issuing press releases? >> i think in my position being a bad boy, i think you just go out and live life, man. you can't do anything now, because a lot of women are coming out and chasing him because he's tiger woods. if he was an average guy, people wouldn't care. he's such an icon and legend right now, such a young age. he needs to play golf somewhere, go down the street and play golf, go to vegas. go see donald trump. go to the hamptons. >> larry: he would be hounded, though. >> it doesn't matter. sooner or later you have to come out and let people see you. i mean, the more you stay hidden, the more people are going to come out and say things about you. so what's going to happen? he'll go on oprah and "60 minutes" and do this, and he has to say the truth. i've learned a big lesson of being a billionaire, a great golfer, a great icon. a famous person. now i have to put all those

things together and be a great father and a great husband. >> larry: donald, do handlers play a part in this, people around him and yes men? people who must have known the kind of life he was living and not say anything about it. >> sure. the handlers are there. a lot of blood suckers. when you're famous like that, a lot of athletes have handlers all over the place. they have a big role in somebody's life. obviously tiger had some handlers and maybe they didn't do him justice. >> did you think about your public image? didn't you care about what people thought about you, or you didn't? >> obviously, people think -- no. that's because i'm famous. that's why i'm famous. i think donald understands it. i think he knew i was a great marketing tool. in what i've done in my career. i used those things for it. i wasn't a bad guy. i was a bad boy as far as like marketing myself. as far as going out there and doing certain things, people know about me and some of the girls i've dated, people know

about some of the things i've done. people don't hold me credible. hey, dennis is a bad guy. we know dennis is a good guy. he's a good guy. we know tiger is a good guy. and tiger needs to come on out and just be a normal human being and everything will take care of itself. >> people got to know dennis really strongly on "the celebrity apprentice." and he turned out to be not only a good guy but a highly competitive guy. if you think about it, you would assume that would be true. he really i think has shown very well. >> larry: we have one segment left, and we'll and if dennis ever partied with tiger or donald after the break. we'll ask if donald ever partied with tiger after the break. because you are... ...clown, yes? female valve: come, you hit me again and i break you. male valve: oh, you messed with wrong pipe now, car. ha, ha trust me...i have to live with her. announcer:accidents are bad. but geico's good

with guaranteed repairs through auto repair express.

dennis, did you ever party with tiger? >> like back in the day when he first came out. when he first came out, started playing golf and getting very good probably in 1996, '97 we hung out a couple of times. >> larry: was he fun to be with? >> he's a great guy. he's a down-to-earth guy. he's not dennis rodman, a wild party guy. he's more subdued, probably smoke a cigar here and there. other than that, i don't see him drinking liquor all night long. maybe a glass or wine or something like that, other than that, he's not a bad guy. >> larry: donald, how did your friendship with tiger begin? >> mostly through golf. i own a lot of really great golf courses and tiger is there and i'd see him there. i got to know him a little bit.

he's very special and truly special in terms of playing golf. i mean, the guy is really amazing. it's like taking the canvas away from rembrandt. you have to let tiger play golf. you just have to. for him to be sitting home not playing golf and i think dennis would agree, that's a terrible mistake. >> larry: you really came out and supported him tonight, donald. it took a little bit of guts. >> i'm a loyal person, and i think tiger is a loyal person in many respects to be honest with you. that's why he's working very, very hard to stay with the wife. >> larry: i don't think loyal would be attributed to him lately, donald. >> you know what? he's working very, very hard with the wife. >> no. hell no. >> a lot of people would be gone. >> larry: tell me about rodman raffle.org, they came for me to support them as far as their organization. they're a nonprofit

organization, and lauren and miles are very nice to give their home up because times are been around for 40 years. they've helped 10,000 people. i'm giving my service as a good guy. most people don't know about me. i do give a lot of weight and my service to people. i would like to thank donald trump for giving me an opportunity to come back and show face. >> what do you want to say about dennis, donald? >> it was great having him on the apprentice, i have to tell you, he's a great character, he's a unique person. but he really is, under all that bluster, there's a good guy, a nice guy, and i respect dennis a lot. >> also donald, he was kind of wild, on the court there wasn't a better team player. he didn't shoot a lot, he passed off. he's a great rebounder. >> one of the greatest

rebounders of all time. if you ask michael jordan or any of the great players on the team, dennis was a very important part of all of those championship teams. >> larry: dennis, you're eligible for the basketball hall of fame next year, do you think you might make it? >> i hope so. you have karl malone, scottie pippen, me that's eligible, hopefully we all three get in. if i don't get, in i'll be there to support scottie pippen. >> dennis, thank you very much. a world war ii veteran returns to the site of one of the bloodiest battles in marine history. are you a cop? no. you didn't hear it from me, but this malibu, it offers better highway mileage than a comparable camry or accord. estimated 33 highway. i saw that on the epa site. so how come the malibu costs so little.

it's a chevy. you have cop hair. now during the chevy red tag event, get an '09 malibu with o percent apr for 72 months. see red and save green. now at your local chevy dealer.

it's an extraordinary new documentary, it will air on the military channel monday december 21st. and knowing the military channel, they will repeat it often. it's brilliantly done. joining us to discuss it are ed harris -- he narrates the return to tarawa. leon cooper, what a joy to have him here. world war ii veteran, survivor. and steven z. barbetter. >> i was on a mountain bike ride about 13 years ago, i ran across eddie albert. he invited me in, i wrote a story about him, we got to be good friends. during the interview process, he showed me this metal he won. he was in the battle of tarawa, we lost 3,000, 4,000 men. it was horrible. fast forward 10 years later, i meet this extraordinary

gentleman. i said, did you see eddie albert at tarawa. he said, absolutely, i remember seeing him. he was dragging marines out of the bay. i said, leon, that was 615 years ago, how do you remember that? >> he said, it's not something you forget. >> leon told me his story and what he was doing, and the documentary they were working on. i saw the film, and i said, yeah, i'll be happy to help out, i really like -- i appreciate people with passion. and have a lot of respect for my elders. and i was glad to help leon out. >> did you know about tarawa? >> not at all. i mean, my dad was in wwii but he was in the army and he was in europe. i knew there was a lot of hellish battles in the pacific, but i didn't not know any

specifics, really. >> my former father-in-law, he fought in iwo and all of those, he wouldn't talk about it. why do you think? >> it's pretty difficult to allow yourself to remember all of the terrible things that happened. i do want to say this before we get very far along. i want to have your viewers know how lucky we are to have ed harris be the narrator of this film, to lend his good name to an important film, and with his good name, i'm convinced that many more people would have seen this film and have known about what we've been trying to do. >> there is this wonderful memorial in washington now for the world war ii veterans. they deserved it for a long time. it's been a long time coming. leon cooper returned there last year. here's a clip of what happened,

return to tarawa. you may find some of these images disturbing. watch. >> i smell the stench of all those bodies rotting in the sun. it still comes back to me. all that stink of guys decomposing. i came ashore between here and the pier. the japanese were shooting at me from every angle there was. i'm just -- i can't stand it. look at this sand here, i couldn't get anywhere near the sand. i was up on the reef. >> this battle was fought from november 20th, 1943 to november

23rd. the first u.s. offensive in the critical central pacific region. the first time the united states faced serious japanese opposition. what caused you to cry there? >> i remembered all those kids being shot. that memory will never leave me. a few feet away from me i would see a kid and his teams cut to pieces. how i survived, i don't know. i remember my mother sending me letters from time to time, son, be careful. you can't be careful in a war, you're either lucky or you're not. >> the brew tailty of the campaign would soon sit home. when the american public began to see the casualties and devastation, the gruesome carnage was so disturbing that some mothers demanded the president's resignation. >> we're discussing the new documentary, return to tarawa.

>> what was it like for you, ed? you had to see all this, and document it? >> well, what the documentary is really about is what leon's mission has become since he took that visit, which i really think he wants to talk about. >> what is your mission? >> to make sure the guys i saw being killed in tarawa are being recovered and repatriated. there may be as many as 500 guys there, including a congressional medal winner. in an unmarked grave. nobody knows where he is for sure. i talked to his daughter a few times -- >> why unmarked grave? >> because at that time, the military didn't care whether these guys were ever pay tree ated. and they still don't. >> were you shocked at this story? >> it's amazing. i feel privileged i went back there. the natural fti