Former Republican Missouri Senate nominee Todd Akin said on Thursday that he wished he could take back his comments about women not being able to get pregnant from "legitimate rape" because he's "relived them too many times."

In an interview on Thursday, KSDK's Leisa Zigman asked the former candidate if he regretted telling KTVI last year that "the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down" if the rape was "legitimate."

"Would you take those six second back if you could?" Zigman wondered.

"Oh, of course I would!" Akin exclaimed. "I've relived them too many times. But that's not reality."

He added: "All of us are fallible, we make mistakes, we say things the wrong way. I've relived that moment many, many times."

"Do you believe there is such a thing as legitimate rape?" Zigman pressed.

"No, no," Akin stuttered. "And I apologize for that. Of course you regret it. Well, what would it have been like if I hadn't done that?"

The former candidate also said that he had refused to drop out of the race because his supporters told not to give in to the will of "party bosses."

"Karl Rove has made himself an expert -- I lost one race, I think he managed to lose about 12 of them in one night," Akin quipped.

"I believe the party will either stand on principled positions or it's going to be replaced by some other party," he concluded, adding that he was not ruling out a possible run for office because he had a "bright new future."

(h/t: The Huffington Post)