Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum and his wife Karen have reportedly accepted the apology of a Fox News contributor who mocked them for taking their dead baby home, where he said they “played” with it.

During a segment on Fox News Monday, Alan Colmes told host Jon Scott that Santorum’s surge in the polls would be only temporary after voters discovered some of his history.

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“Once [voters] get a load of some of the crazy things he’s said and done, like taking his 2-hour-old baby who died right after childbirth home and played with it for a couple of hours so his other children would know that the child was real,” Colmes explained.

“You are mocking him,” Fox News contributor Rich Lowry interrupted. “They lost a child, Alan. That’s very serious and it’s not something you should be mocking on national TV.”

“I’m not mocking the losing of the child,” Colmes disagreed. “But what I’m saying is I think it shows a certain unusual attitude toward taking a 2-hour-baby home who died to play with his other children.”

“I think it shows a certain behavior which is questionable,” he added “And I think it’s something that people do think about and consider when they’re looking at a candidate.”

The Washington Post reported in 2005 that after the 1996 death of their baby, Santorum and his wife took the baby home and “spent several hours kissing and cuddling Gabriel with his three siblings, ages 6, 4 and 1 1/2.”

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At an event in Iowa Monday night, Santorum fought back tears as he responded to Colmes’ allegations.

“We tried everything we could to save his life and we failed,” the candidate said. “We brought Gabriel home to bury him and we brought him home so our children could see him.”

Several hours later, Colmes tweeted that he had spoken to Santorum.

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“He and Karen graciously accepted my apology for a hurtful comment,” Colmes wrote.

Fox News’ Happening Now, broadcast Jan 2, 2012.

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