Alan Colmes: Rick Santorum took dead baby home to 'play with it'

Liberal talk show host Alan Colmes sunk to new a new low when he said on Fox News that former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum took his deceased baby home to 'play with it.'

Noting that the GOP has "speed-dated" every other candidate, Colmes said voters should "get a load" of what he called the "crazy things" Santorum has 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 it was real, I mean..."

At this point, Fox News contributor Rich Lowry tore into Colmes, calling his statement a "cheap shot."

Lowry lambasted Colmes for "mocking" the death of Santorum's child and said it was beneath the liberal talker, sometimes known as "Skeletor" among some conservatives.

Colmes tried to take control of the conversation, saying he didn't interrupt Lowry, but Lowry shot back, "I'm interrupting you because what you're saying is contemptible."

"They lost a child, Alan, and that's something you should not be mocking," Lowry said, as Colmes sat back, arms folded, in what can only be called a childish pout.

A post at Hot Air called Colmes' attack "an uppercut straight to the groin."

The post adds:

Pure instinctual ideological bloodlust? Or … is this actually a sly bit of jujitsu in which AC, through a calculated display of jerkiness, forces the viewer to sympathize with Santorum, thus giving him another little boost before tomorrow night? It’s good cop/bad cop co-starring Rich Lowry. Fiendishly clever!

But Hot Air references a post at The Right Scoop in which Santorum discusses the decision with Piers Morgan, who is hardly known for being sympathetic to conservatives.

In that clip, Morgan sympathizes with Santorum and agreed that what he did was the right thing to do.  The Right Scoop wrote:

As you would imagine it was a profoundly personal decision, but one that even the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit recommended. It most certainly wasn’t as Colmes attempted to characterize it.

Hot Air continues:

I don’t know where Colmes is getting the idea that they brought the baby’s body home to “play with it.” They brought him home because they wanted his siblings to understand that they had had a brother who’d lived and died. Seeing him with their own eyes and having a few hours together as a family would bond them to his memory in a way that nothing else would. It’s not what most parents would do, but it’s not “crazy.”

Lowry was not finished scolding Colmes, who tried to shift the conversation.

"I even think some of the dastardly characters we have in the mainstream media are not going to go as low as you just have, Alan, in making fun of that incident," he said.

Both videos can be seen at Hot Air and the Right Scoop.

Update:  Alan Colmes says he has spoken to the Santorums and apologized for his insensitive remark.

"just spoke to @RickSantorum. He and Karen graciously accepted my apology for a hurtful comment," he tweeted Monday evening.