Tea party favorite Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL) complained on Tuesday that not enough of his Republican colleagues were defending a fellow congressman who had suggested that victims of “legitimate rape” could not get pregnant.

In remarks published by Elmhurst Patch, Walsh lashed out at Republicans for abandoning Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin after he claimed that women were not likely to get pregnant because “if it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.”

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“What he said was offensive, insulting and wrong, but I’m bothered by this rush to pile on,” Walsh opined. “And I’m bothered by the silence of members of our own party to stand up for him.”

After failing to meet a Tuesday afternoon deadline to drop out of the Missouri Senate race, Akin on Wednesday called out “party bosses” — including Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity — who were trying to force him to quit.

“The people of Missouri chose me to be their candidate,” he explained to ABC News. ” And I don’t believe it’s right for party bosses to decide to override those voters.”

Akin also told NBC News that Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan personally asked him to step aside.

Speaking to KDKA in Pittsburgh on Tuesday, Ryan declined to explain a bill that he co-sponsored with Akin that critics say would have redefined rape, providing federal assistance only to victims of “forcible rape.”

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“You sponsored legislation that has the language ‘forcible rape,’” KDKA Political Editor Jon Delano pointed out to Ryan. “What is forcible rape?”

“Rape is rape,” Ryan replied, shaking his head. “Rape is rape, period. End of story.”

“So that forcible rape language meant nothing to you at the time?” Delano pressed.

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“Rape is rape and there’s no splitting hairs over rape,” Ryan insisted.

[Photo: Flickr/Gage Skidmore]

(h/t: The Hill)