"Looking somewhat shaken, the golfer Tiger Woods told the world that he had acted irresponsibly in conducting a number of extramarital affairs that damaged his family. Being selfish is not an uncommon thing. All of us are sinners. The only thing that separates fallible human beings is the degree of the transgressions. Therefore, judging Tiger Woods is probably not a good thing to do. Mr. Woods also said he would not answer questions about his conduct and that's smart. The press would brutalize the man because scandal sells. The more salacious the information, the more money the media can make. So the golfer is wise not to get specific about what he did or did not do. Also, Mr. Woods appealed to the press to stop following his children around and leave his wife alone. Again, the media does this to make money. And I hope the press will back off."

For more on the Woods apology, The Factor welcomed Fox News anchor Geraldo Rivera. Geraldo thought that the media's fascination with the story was due, in part, to the highly positive image that Tiger had built for himself: "The reason he fell so profoundly, the reason it was such a come down was his image was so inflated, it was almost impossible to attain. He was the perfect renaissance man in many regards. At least that is his image. The truth comes out he's just another athlete going out to get as much tail as he possibly can." The Factor wasn't too surprised at the widespread fascination with the Woods story: "The world really is engaged in this soap opera. And I know when the rich and powerful fall, that's always the case. It always has been and it always will be." The Factor decided to call an audible and hold Geraldo over for another segment to continue the conversation.

After the commercial break, Geraldo revealed that he found it very easy to relate to Woods' feelings of entitlement: "You know, I had a 30 year run as Tiger Woods in a sense, with money that I never expected to have and access to females that I never expected to have, because I was a skinny pimply faced kid in high school. Then suddenly, I was famous." The Factor though it was legitimate for Woods to ask the press not to delve into his marriage any further: "I feel very, very uneasy getting into anybody's relationship, husband and wife. But I will say this -- the guy needs emotional help, obviously. He needs it. Whether it's sex addiction or psychiatric, I don't know. And I don't care. It's up to him. It's up to his wife. If his wife wants to take him back, good. It helps the kids, I think."

Pres. Obama flew to Nevada to campaign for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who's caught in a tough reelection campaign. The Factor asked Fox News analyst Karl Rove if the president could save Reid. "No," Rove replied. "He can help him raise money, but the only person who can save Harry Reid is Harry Reid -- and his Republican opponents." Rove went on to explain that a tough nominating fight could hurt the GOP candidate who would eventually face Reid: "If they tear themselves up in the primary, and they're bloody and weak going into the general election, then Reid can save himself." For the next topic, The Factor wanted to know if conservative attacks on Obama were crossing the line. Rove thought that certain criticisms were well within bounds: "I think tone matters. You can obviously disagree with him on the facts and the policy and his agenda. It is fair game." The Factor admitted that he was initially hesitant that personal attacks on Obama would work, but some viewer mail changed his mind: "I got a couple of letters that said the liberal media did the same thing to President Bush and it worked. They demeaned Bush's intelligence. And then people started to think all over the world the guy was dumb. And that wasn't true. You know that better than anybody else. So maybe the personal attacks work."

Sen. John McCain has introduced a bill giving the FDA authority to regulate vitamins and supplements. Actress Suzanne Somers didn't like this: "Here we are adding more bureaucracy, which will be tens of millions of dollars, which will make supplements more and more expensive. Why do we want to give government more control over choices that we can make for ourselves?" The Factor was sympathetic to her small government argument, but also saw some safety benefits to federal oversight. Somers warned that it could lead to people not being able to buy the vitamins they wanted, but The Factor pointed out that the scope of the bill was not actually that wide: "The bill would require manufacturers of dietary supplements to register with the Food and Drug Administration so they'd know who they were and what they were selling, and to disclose the ingredients. I want that."

Earlier in the week, the New York Times published a front-page article about the Tea Party that linked it to a bunch of nuts, and mentioned Glenn Beck several times. Beck thought that this proved how irrelevant the newspaper was: "I don't care what the New York Times says. My newsletter has more subscribers than the New York Times does, for the love of Pete. They're so out of touch with the American people that it really doesn't matter anymore." Later, the topic was Beck's upcoming speech to CPAC. The Factor was curious: "I'm kind of surprised you're doing that, because you're not a party apparatus. I mean, you're not a Republican or Democratic guy, even though they try to paint you as this GOP-er. So why are you going down there? What are you going to tell these people?" Beck explained that he was going to give some tough love: "The reason why I've done it is because I have a lot to say to the Republicans... I have a lot to say to the conservatives, as well. You know, there is a disease in the republic, and it is the progressive movement. And the R's are just as guilty as the D's on this. And it's time for people to wake up."

Attorney Jennifer Smetters, who specializes in family law work, gave her opinion on the Tiger Woods statement, and what it meant for the golfer's family. She was cautiously optimistic: "I think it will help the situation overall. I think what it will do is take a little bit of the focus and spotlight off of what the wife and the children are doing. Right now what this has done is it's made it so that the spotlight is now shifting back to him." The Factor agreed that it would help, but thought that Tiger should maybe have considered handling it differently: "Let me play devil's advocate here.The other way he could handle this is to issue that statement in print. Not go up there in person. And then basically say, 'Look, I'm not going to talk about this ever.' I think it might have been better for the wife and kids for him to just do this in print, because now you've got these clips that are out there forever."

Friday's Patriot: Actor Jack Nicholson, who visited wounded troops at Walter Reed Hospital but insisted on doing it without any publicity. And the Pinhead: Singer Elton John, who in a recent interview said that he thought Jesus was "a compassionate, super-intelligent gay man."

William Carino, Cocoa, Florida: "I have a right to protect my property with a gun. A state of emergency does not suspend that right."

Dan Rohm, Melbourne, Florida: "Bill, you were right to chastise Lis Wiehl in the Iowa teenage stripper case. What the judges did there might have been legal, but it was terribly wrong."

Connie Ferris, Hong Kong: "Bill, can't wait to read 'Bold Fresh' on Kindle. I'm glad all the proceeds from your books go to charity."

And Kevin Cornell, Noblesville, Indiana: "Bill, recently I had a job interview. I reread chapter 13 of 'Bold Fresh,' and it helped a lot."