Peabody Award-winning journalist Charles Jaco responded today to criticism over his lack of follow up to Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO) incendiary "legitimate rape" remark by saying he "screwed up."

Jaco, who hosts The Jaco Report on the St. Louis-based Fox affiliate KTVI, asked the congressman during an interview yesterday if there were any circumstances under which he would consider abortion to be permissible.

"First of all, from what I understand from doctors, [pregnancy from rape] is really rare," Akin responded. "If it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down."

Jaco left the comment hanging and moved on.

"I dropped the ball," he told TPM, adding that other "odd things" Akin said during the lengthy interview may have "inoculated him" to the remark. "When you're not 100 percent fully engaged, and you've got anything else on your mind, you'll miss stuff," he continued. "We all brain fart sooner or later, and this is mine."

Akin, who serves on the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, later issued a statement claiming he "misspoke."

Mitt Romney, whose presumptive VP Paul Ryan co-sponsored a bill with Akin that attempted to redefine the word "rape," called Akin's comments "insulting, inexcusable, and, frankly, wrong."

Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) called on Rep. Akin to "resign the nomination for US Senate in Missouri," becoming the most high-profile Republican so far to do so.

Meanwhile, a 2003 study has shown that, contrary to Akin's claim, women who have been raped are twice as likely to conceive as their consensual counterparts.

[screengrab via The Jaco Report]