(LAUGHTER)

The Barack-ness Monster ain't buying it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT: So there you go.

(LAUGHTER)

I guess if your candidate gets a lot of air time on television, or maybe if he doesn't, you go on the Jimmy Fallon show and make your point there.

JIM PINKERTON, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR, THE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE MAGAZINE: Well you know, Bill Clinton played the saxophone on the "Arsenio Hall Show" and he won that race 20 years ago. I suspect you'll see Mitt Romney on some of these shows --

(LAUGHTER)

(CROSSTALK)

PINKERTON: Nixon went on "Laugh In" in 1968. Nixon makes Romney look like a riot.

(LAUGHTER)

(CROSSTALK)

CAL THOMAS, SYNDICATED COLUMNIST: There's a big difference, I think. Clinton was running for president. Barack Obama is president. I agree with Dana Perino and some of -- the former White House press secretary, a commentator on this network and co-host of the "The Five." Can we plug that?

(LAUGHTER)

There's a certain decorum about the presidency. When you take it on a -- lower it to that level, I think it does damage to the image of the office.

SCOTT: What about the media reaction to the appearance?

JUDY MILLER, WRITER & FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: What's interesting about the media reaction, I would have thought this stuff like this played well to the media, because it's funny and also it's clearly got a message, which is I need the young people back, which is Obama's message. But actually, the Pew Research Group said, as it turns out, Obama's coverage has been more negative than positive. And I think that's the way a lot of this is going down. I was quite surprised by that.

SCOTT: But the "Today Show” spent something like 11 minutes fawning over the president's appearance on Jimmy Fallon's show.

KIRSTEN POWERS, COLUMNIST, THE DAILY BEAST: I think the media mostly likes this kind of stuff because it's funny and it's light. I watched-- actually -- I didn't think it was that funny. Obama was pretty straight- faced through it. It was not -- I didn't find it demeaning in any way. I think he's reaching out to the youth vote and we have to use the different types of media that you have. And I wouldn't begrudge him or a Republican candidate who did this?

THOMAS: But it's a distraction from the really important stuff going on, the jobs, the economy, foreign policy issues. It’s like covering shark infestations in Florida just before 9/11. And then when 9/11 happens, the media say, gee, how come we didn't see it coming? Answer, you were covering sharks in Florida, that's why.

(LAUGHTER)

SCOTT: The media do seem to be taking on the president over some of these appearances. ABC's Jonathan Karl called out Mr. Obama over comments he made about how poor he and Michelle were and they had to pay off their college loans after they were, I guess, making a six-figure income.

(LAUGHTER)

PINKERTON: Right. Look, this is a close race. If Romney were 10 points down, it would be easy for the media to say, oh, Obama’s great and Romney stinks, and we look forward to covering Obama in a second term. They've got to cover their bets. They could be covering a President Romney in nine months and they know it and they don't want to completely antagonize him.

SCOTT: Another one from MSNBC's Mike O'Brian who sent out a tweet saying, how much longer do we have to pretend that these POTUS, president of the United States events, aren't campaign events? This is campaigning. Let's just call it that.

MILLER: I think that's always a problem when you have an incumbent president. It's a problem now. This man has been everywhere, our president, and half of -- more than half of these appearances are almost nothing but campaign events, but how do you distinguish? And who distinguishes? It's a really tough problem for Romney.

SCOTT: Jake Tapper asked at the White House whether these -- how you distinguish presidential travel from campaign travel.

THOMAS: Well, Congress has done the same things for years. They'll go on these junkets they call fact-finding mission and hold a hearing for an hour and go out and play golf for three days. They're not exactly the best example of how to properly spend the taxpayers' money.

SCOTT: Judy mentioned, Kirsten, the coverage that President Obama received. Mitt Romney says -- well, Mitt Romney has gotten most of the coverage, obviously, on the Republican side.

POWERS: Yes.

SCOTT: But even there, the Pew Research Center broke that down and said that he has received positive coverage 47 percent of the time, ever since the Michigan primary.

POWERS: Well, they said his coverage is twice as positive as the president's coverage, actually.

MILLER: Yes.

POWERS: So, I guess that, you know, Mitt Romney is saying he's getting unfair coverage, but that's a pretty typical Republican tactic, pretend you're having a fight with the media and pretending that they're out to get you, so everyone will rally around your side.

PINKERTON: There's a cleverness to Romney. When he talked about the vast left-wing conspiracy, he says, "the quote" vast left-wing conspiracy.

(LAUGHTER)

He put his own ironic detachment in front of the point to signal to the media, I'm not against you, I’m saying this for the base over here.

MILLER: Yes.

(LAUGHTER)

PINKERTON: But we'll get along fine if I win.