As I was reading the president's words about the killings in Libya, an analogy occurred to me.

What would happen if a woman were raped and a government official responded, in part, "While we reject a woman's dressing provocatively, we must all unequivocally oppose this kind of senseless violence . . ."

I'll tell you what would happen: He'd be pilloried, and rightly so. It's been well established that in such a case, you do NOT blame the victim in any way, shape, or form. You don't blame anyone or anything except the attacker.

So what makes it acceptable for the president of the United States to respond to the killing of our ambassador and three others with "While the United States rejects efforts to denigrate the religious beliefs of others, we must all unequivocally oppose the kind of senseless violence that took the lives of these public servants"?