Hank Williams, Jr. Sorry He Compared Obama To Hitler

Hank Williams Jr. has apologized for comparing President Barack Obama to Adolph Hitler during a Fox News morning show appearance.

Conspicuous by its timing, Williams issued his apology after ESPN publicly announced that the "Worldwide Leader in Sports" was yanking his famous "Are You Read For Some Football?" opening from the network's live Oct. 3 game.

During a guest appearance on the right-leaning News Corp. network's morning show "Fox & Friends," Ol' Bocephus likened a recent golf round between Obama and Speaker Of The House John Boehner to being "like Hitler playing golf with (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu."

Just in case a few people didn't catch his drift, he clarified that Obama and Vice President Joe Biden are "the enemy," not the "Netanyahu" in that ill-advised simile.

"Some of us have strong opinions and are often misunderstood," TMZ reports Williams said via released statement. "My analogy was extreme – but it was to make a point. I was simply trying to explain how stupid it seemed to me - how ludicrous that pairing was.

"They're polar opposites and it made no sense. They don't see eye-to-eye and never will. I have always respected the office of the President."

"Every time the media brings up the tea party it's painted as racist and extremists – but there's never a backlash – no outrage to those comparisons… Working class people are hurting – and it doesn't seem like anybody cares. When both sides are high-fiving it on the ninth hole when everybody else is without a job – it makes a whole lot of us angry. Something has to change. The policies have to change."

And now comes inevitable crying about ESPN lacking "backbone" or about how it's an attack by "liberal media" upon "Williams' First Amendment rights."

Was Williams well within his rights by making his remarks? Absolutely. Will it rub many people - particularly core country fans that skew conservative in ideology and reliably vote a straight-GOP ticket in nearly every given election? I'd bet my bottom dollar.

Does anybody have room to bitch at ESPN about canning Williams' association with their product? From a former journalist . . . Hell-absolutely-no.

Face facts: ESPN runs a business. Fair or not, Williams has an almost unbreakable association with an ESPN product, "Monday Night Football," and potential viewers whose remarks comparing Obama to one of the most utterly, completely, indefensibly evil murderers in world history will gladly avoid even ESPN's NFL broadcasts if it means distancing themselves from Williams and what's associated with his remarks.

Maybe not enough viewers to be considered a majority, but there's the possibility of enough to spook advertisers who won't want their products - or dollars - associated with a network that associates itself with a public figure recently known for controversial, inflammatory remarks.

It's pretty simple math.

That was about the most poorly thought-out decision of Williams' career, and it may have just cost him an iconic position. Just as he was within his rights and freedoms to speak his mind, ESPN brass were well within their rights to end their voluntary association with Williams.

Surely, these are consequences that must have occurred to Williams, however briefly.