Late Night Comedy Gets a Visit from Prime Time Politics

The conservative Fox News host speculated on what's at stake in the GOP primaries

Fox News political commentator and resident curmudgeon Bill O'Reilly visited "The Tonight Show" to talk politics, and unsurprisingly, the conversation was less than humorous.

Jay Leno asked O'Reilly to evaluate the current crop of GOP presidential candidates. And what, asked Leno, did O'Reilly make of Rick Santorum's plethora of arch conservative remarks on social issues?

"Everybody has dopey past comments… We gotta cut him a little slack," O'Reilly said.

"He'd be wise to just say, 'Look, I said what I said, now let's get into the economy,'" he added.

He said that whoever wins the nomination, he'd like to see Florida Sen. Marco Rubio or New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie picked for a vice presidential candidate. And as for Sarah Palin?

"She has her niche audience, but the governor is happy where she is on Fox News making a fortune," he said. He also commented on President Obama's prospects come November.

"It's all economic for Barack Obama. Americans like him. On a personal level, they think he's a good guy," he noted.

Earlier in the show, Leno had defended the president in his own terms — with a little ridicule of Newt Gingrich, whose campaign is on the wane, thrown in for good measure.

"Newt Gingrich said today that President Obama does not recognize the threat from radical Islamists. Really? Then why does he keep killing 'em? He's bumping 'em off left and right," Leno remarked.

Check out the interview with O'Reilly below.

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