Eugene Robinson: I Didn't Mean to Call Santorum Dead Baby Ritual 'Weird'

Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson said Friday morning he misspoke when calling Rick Santorum weird for the way the GOP candidate handled the 1996 death of his infant son.

Robinson didn't directly apologize to the former Pennsylvania senator, but explained that he didn't articulate himself well.

What I actually said was I thought some people would think that was weird, the journalist said on MSNBC's Morning Joe.

I certainly didn't mean to offend anybody, especially Mr. Santorum, but it was in a discussion of his views, and, you know, which I consider extreme, Robinson said, adding that Santorum's deep faith is something people will want to know more about.

The controversial comments came Wednesday night on The Rachel Maddow Show, when Robinson said Republicans may not relate well to how Santorum said he and his wife brought their dead son, Gabriel, home to show their kids they had a brother when he died two hours after his birth.

Not everybody is not going to be down, for example, with the story of how he and his wife handled the stillborn child. It was a body that they took home to kind of sleep with it, introduce it to the rest of the family. It's a very weird story, he told Maddow.

This is a guy who should never become president, in my view, Robinson said at the end of the segment.

Robinson is the second reporter to backtrack on comments they made about the recently surging presidential candidate and his story about Gabriel, which Santorum said influenced is anti-abortion views.

On Fox News, political contributor Alan Colmes was discussing Santorum's rising poll numbers with National Review editor Rich Lowry last Tuesday when he called Santorum's anecdote one of the crazy things he's said and done.

Lowry instantly called Colmes' argument a cheap shot and the commentator later tweeted he eventually apologized to Santorum and his wife, Karen.

I know Alan is a very good person at heart, Santorum told Fox News host Sean Hannity later that day. He made a mistake, he admitted the mistake ... we all say things and do stupid things.

Santorum hasn't responded to Robinson's comments.