Kyl: Embassy statement like blaming rape victim

[charminglife]

Seriously??

Kyl: Embassy statement like blaming rape victim

The No. 2 Senate Republican slammed the Obama administration for “apologizing” to protesters who were threatening the U.S. Embassy in Egypt, comparing the situation to a judge blaming a rape victim for the way she dressed.

"I don't know if you've ever been involved in victims' rights,” Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl of Arizona told reporters Wednesday.

“This is like the judge telling the woman that got raped, ‘You asked for it because of the way you dressed.’ That’s the same thing. ‘Well, America, you should be the ones to apologize. You should have known this would happen.’”

Kyl’s comments came during a day dominated by news that U.S. Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens and three other American diplomats were killed Tuesday in a rocket attack after riots broke out at the U.S. consulate in Benghazi and the U.S. embassy in Cairo. Protesters were furious over an anti-Islam film, produced in America, that ridiculed the prophet, Muhammad.

In a bid to quell the unrest, U.S. officials at the embassy issued a statement Tuesday condemning the producers of the video for “hurt[ing] the religious feelings of Muslims." But the State Department said it had not cleared the embassy statement before it went out.

“For a member of our State Department to put out a statement like that, it had to be cleared by somebody,” Kyl said. “They don't just do that in a spur of a moment."

Kyl opted not to seek reelection this November and will retire from the Senate at the end of this year. But his rape analogy comes at a time the GOP is still distancing itself from controversial “legitimate rape” remarks by Rep. Todd Akin, the Republican Senate candidate in Missouri.

UPDATE: Kyl's spokesman Joe Hack e-mailed with this statement later Wednesday: "Senator Kyl's comments were meant to demonstrate that innocent victims of violence need never apologize to those committing the heinous acts of violence."

www.politico.com/blogs/on-congress/2012/09/kyl-embassy-statement-like-blaming-rape-victim-135366.html?hp=l1_b6

[teflep]

I get his point, but yeah, yuck. Who writes for those on the Hill?