January 3, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Fox News’ Alan Colmes drew outrage from a fellow commentator on air after he targeted GOP 2012 presidential candidate Rick Santorum for bringing home the body of his son, Gabriel, who died in 1996 at only a few hours old, to let his other children see and hold him.
Colmes, a liberal commentator and radio host, said the grieving method described in a book by Santorum’s wife, Karen, “Letters to Gabriel: The True Story of Gabriel Michael Santorum,” showed a “lack of judgment” that could hurt the candidate even as he rises sharply in recent polls.
“Once they get a load of the crazy things he’s said and done, like taking his two hour old baby who died right after childbirth home and played with it for a couple hours so his other children would know that the child was real, I mean, stuff like that,” said Colmes. “I think it shows a certain behavior that is questionable.”
National Review Editor Rich Lowry immediately criticized Colmes for the remarks, which he called “contemptible.” “Something that’s that personal, losing a child and to mock it like that, is really beyond the pale and beneath you,” he said.
Colmes insisted that he was not mocking Santorum, and repeated that the candidate has “said a lot of other crazy things,” such as opposing sodomy. “He is so far outside the mainstream that he can’t be taken seriously as a candidate,” he concluded.
“Rick Santorum has very traditional Catholic attitudes towards sexual morality, and yes, [for] Manhattan liberals that will strike them as bizarre and threatening; a lot of Republican primary voters, it’s not,” Lowry shot back.
Colmes later announced on Twitter that he had apologized personally to the candidate. “Just spoke to @ricksantorum. He and Karen graciously accepted my apology for a hurtful comment,” he wrote.
In a subsequent appearance on Fox News with Sean Hannity, Santorum choked back tears as he described the death of Gabriel, and said that taking Gabriel home was a way to “recognize the dignity of that life.” He said that “it was a tremendously healing experience,” though “I can understand why people may want to do something differently.”
Responding to Colmes’ apology, Santorum said: “I know Alan is a very good person at heart. He made a mistake, he admitted the mistake… we all say things and do stupid things.”
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