Hank Williams JR compares Obama to Hitler

[brent]

Oh boy. HWJ can kiss his Monday Night Football revenue goodbye. Other Islamic nations and movements see Obama for what he is, but people here in the states cannot/will not. I like watching news and commentaries from other countries. Their news is often more revealing. They often substantial the insight of "right wingers" here. But if those comments were to come from our media, they would have their access limited, etc, etc and be labeled "haters" and republicans.

[St_Augustines_Pears]

Oh boy. HWJ can kiss his Monday Night Football revenue goodbye.

His Monday Night Football theme song is only suspended for next week's game.

Two weeks from now, ol' Hank will be back bellowing, "Are you ready for some footballllllllllllll!".

[executioner]

Hanks apology for his comments just seems to fuel the fire a little bit more.

[gman]

Holy cow. At no point in what he originally said did he compare Obama to Hitler. It's clear from the clip that the Fox news people went there.

[gman]

You forgot, "with Netanyahu". He didn't specifically state in that portion of his comments that he thought Obama was comparable to Hitler. He might think that personally. I don't know. But, it was the Fox news folks who infered that.

[Rocksoup]

It was an analogy. The key word is "like". Anyone who can't figure it out is a moron.

[Rocksoup]

I stand by my statement.

[CatNamedManny]

If he used "like," then it is actually a simile, which is:

"A figure of speech involving the comparison of one thing with another."

I would say the initial comparison was not that bad. He could have just been making a potentially poor-taste statement that Obama and Boehner were like oil and water. You wouldn't expect Hitler and Netanyahu to play golf, why should you expect Obama and Boehner?

But the Fox News people, perhaps betraying a little more of their bias than they realized, connected Obama to Hitler and asked Williams about it. And Williams agreed! To me, that's the big no-no. He could have easily said, "No, that's not what I meant," end of story. But clearly he meant to draw direct connections between Obama and Hitler, Boehner and Netanyahu, the purpose of which continues to mystify me.

[executioner]

I don't agree with what Hank said, but come on people!! Everyone walks around on pins & needles just hoping no one says anything insensitive.
I'm tired of the politically correct crap; doesn't anyone(including us Christians) think we need to just grow some?

[St_Augustines_Pears]

I guess ESPN and Monday Night Football are permanently parting with ol' Hank.

[CatNamedManny]

Well, going out of your way to avoid being insensitive sounds like the hallmarks of being a mature, functioning adult in a diverse, multifaceted society to me. Comparing people to the worst monster of the past 100 years is not exactly something we should be endorsing or condoning as Christians, I wouldn't think.

I think there are times when you can make value-neutral Hitler comparisons without worrying about it costing you your job, and arguably Williams' comments could have been construed that way at first, but he sealed his own fate by confirming he actually meant to compare the president of the United States to a mass-murdering racist who caused the most devastating war the world has ever seen.

[knotodiswrld]

I stopped coming around here because of all the childish bickering and arguing. I mean, really. Christians have no business behaving this way. But I do glance back every now and then, I and I saw this little discussion.

I think everyone missed a crucial issue of the whole business of what HWJ said here.

I don't think HWJ was comparing Obama to Hitler for two simple reasons.

1. He said "It would be like Hitler playing golf with Netanyahu". What he was saying is, "This is a case of two archenemies trying to pretend they are friends". That is what he was saying. He was not saying, nor could a reasonable person listening to the ENTIRE quote, conclude that he was saying, that Obama is like Hitler.

2. HWJ is a fairly intelligent man. I mean, he probably won't be winning any Nobel Physics prizes any time soon, but he's no moron.

And any moron can see that Obama just doesn't measure up to Hitler.

Let me explain why. Better yet, let me allow C.S. Lewis to explain why. As you all know, I am a huge C.S. Lewis fan. The first of his books that I ever read was The Screwtape Letters[/p]. At the time, it seemed like the most brilliant work I had ever read. (That was before I read Till We Have Faces, also by Lewis.)

The Screwtape Letters are a series of letters written by the fictitious archdemon, "Screwtape", to one of his underlings, a "Tempter Demon" named "Wormwood" out in the field who's one and only job it is to secure the soul of his "patient" for the kingdom of hell. And of course, being a demon, in his letters, Screwtape refers to God as "The Enemy".

In one of those letters, Screwtape says this:

To be greatly and effectively wicked a man needs some virtue. What would Attila have been without his courage, or Shylock without self-denial as regards the flesh? But as we cannot supply these qualities ourselves, we can only use them as supplied by the Enemy—and this means leaving Him a kind of foothold in those men whom, otherwise, we have made most securely our own.

Lets look at the first part of that: "To be greatly and effectively wicked a man needs some virtue".

Now, no one would deny that Hitler was "greatly and effectively wicked". I don't think there can be any doubt. So, what was his virtue?

Well, to start with, the man was ardently patriotic. He genuinely and truly loved Germany with all his heart. Yes, yes. It was a twisted KIND of patriotism, but that's just the point. He had to have SOME virtue. For Hitler, that virtue was love of country and faith in his fellow Germans. I mean ... he honestly believed they really COULD take over the world ... that they could be as great as Ancient Rome.

He had FAITH. If the average Christian had half the faith in God that Hitler had in his fellow Germans, we'd be raising the dead and healing the sick so often that NO man could claim that there was no God!!

Now, now. Don't get your hackles up. Yes, I agree that Hitler was "greatly and effectively wicked" ... truly, truly evil ... maybe even a "type" and "shadow" of the anti-Christ. He was probably the second most evil being in the universe in his time. But he couldn't have been that evil without a little bit of virtue.

A man without virtue will never be a truly great criminal or warlord. The great gang leaders of today possess great physical courage. They are willing to endure the beatings of gang ritual, and risk their lives in bloody fights to rise to their position. Without that courage, they would not be great criminals. They'd be 2-bit hoods ... wannabe's at best ... more likely 40 year old underemployed losers still living with their mothers.

In the life of every truly, spectacularly evil person you will find SOME virtue ... great patience, a love for education, courage .... SOMETHING that gives them the strength to pursue and carry out their evil designs.

Now, with that in mind, let's take a look at Barack Obama. What is his virtue?


Um ....

Well .... let's see ... AH! He sticks to his guns when .... no ... wait ... he doesn't ....

OH! I know! He stands by those who support him when .... oh ... nope ... epic fail there ....

You know what! Barack Obama doesn't have any virtue!!!

And this why he is just colossally incompetent, not greatly and effectively wicked. When it comes to wickedness, he's a "wannabe".

Now, those behind Obama, such as Soros and Ayers, ARE in fact greatly and effectively wicked. Soros, to start with, possesses both a long, LONG suffering PATIENCE, as well as a very practical determination. He is very calculating. These are just enough virtue to make him greatly and effectively wicked.

Bill Ayers, another of the President's puppetmasters, is another example of a little bit of virtue making one greatly and effectively wicked. For all his evil, I think Ayers really does CARE about those he perceives to be "disadvantaged". While his methods of trying to help them have been absolutely abhorrent, it is that genuine concern for others that gives him the strength and power to be "greatly and effectively wicked".

But Obama himself is merely their tool. He's just a puppet. We can no more credit him with the evil he perpetrates than you can credit one of my chessmen when I win a game of chess. He has no more to with it than my pawn or my bishop has to do with that final checkmate.

Hitler, on the other hand, was no puppet. He was no tool. He was the puppetmaster. He was, for all intents and purposes, a true dictator. Sure, sure. He was genuinely evil. But it was HIS evil, not someone else's.

So you see, any intelligent person can see that Obama and Hitler are nothing alike. And comparing them to each other is an insult to ... um ... well .... both of them, really.

[CatNamedManny]

I stopped coming around here because of all the childish bickering and arguing. I mean, really. Christians have no business behaving this way.

The fact that you started perhaps the most vile post in the history of this message board with this statement is truly, astoundingly ironic.

Edit: OK, that's clearly hyperbolic; I have no way of knowing what other posts have been made in the years between my stints here. Nevertheless, I feel like I have to constantly remind people that Barack Obama is a Christian with a conversion story likely similar to many of ours (altar call in church, coming down the aisle, turning his life over to Christ). Jesus says we should love our enemies. Shouldn't we at least show a modicum of respect to our brothers and sisters in Christ?

[gman]

I have no idea if Obama is really saved or not. That is for God to decide. I'll have to find the clip and see if I can get it in context. There's a curious clip where Obama equates personal salvation with collective salvation. As if his salvation depends on collective salvation. I'll admit that I'm having a brain fart that is causing me to misremember the exact definition or application of collective salvation. One needs to have the correct, biblical understanding the Jesus Christ and the Gospel. Salvation comes by grace through faith, conferred up the individual by God.
What Obama said could have just been a case of him saying something to please a particular constituency. His teleprompter has been known to cause him to do that.

On a side note to the original discussion. It's reported that Susan Sarandon called the current Pope a Nazi in an interview. Reportedly she was given an opportunity to walk it back, but instead she repeated it. That's much more direct than what Mr. Williams said. If it's true as reported, because she's on the favored political side in the eyes of the media, it's a good bet she'll make a clean getaway.

[executioner]

I stopped coming around here because of all the childish bickering and arguing. I mean, really. Christians have no business behaving this way.

The fact that you started perhaps the most vile post in the history of this message board with this statement is truly, astoundingly ironic.

Edit: OK, that's clearly hyperbolic; I have no way of knowing what other posts have been made in the years between my stints here. Nevertheless, I feel like I have to constantly remind people that Barack Obama is a Christian with a conversion story likely similar to many of ours (altar call in church, coming down the aisle, turning his life over to Christ). Jesus says we should love our enemies. Shouldn't we at least show a modicum of respect to our brothers and sisters in Christ?

He might say he is, but where are the fruits? I personally see nothing that shows he is, but honestly its not for me too decide.