ESPN doesn't appear to have many defenders of its decision to remove Robert Lee from the broadcast of the University of Virginia's football game in Charlottesville next month.

ESPN took this action out of fear that the similarity of Robert's name to that of the former general-in-chief of the Confederate army might cause trouble.  As they found out, even the best of intentions can become the target of mockery.  But is that any reason not to do the right thing?  ESPN doesn't think so, and neither do I.

I say this to bring attention to a similar but far more egregious problem at another network, and I call for immediate action.

"Wolf" is an old German form of the name Adolf.  Probably for this reason, Hitler adopted the nickname "Wolf."  His closest confidants called him "Wolf," and he named his various military headquarters "Wolfsschanze" (on the eastern front), "Wolfsschlunct" (Belgium and France), and Werwolf (Ukraine).

"Blitzkreig" was Hitler's strategy of "lightning war."  From that word we have adopted the football term "blitz," meaning to suddenly attack the quarterback.  Blitz also refers to any sort of intense campaign, as in an advertising blitz or a public relations blitz.  The "blitzer" is the person who suddenly attacks someone or something.

Wolf Blitzer, the prominent newscaster and political commentator on CNN, is white (like Hitler), and he was born in Germany (das vaterland).  And nearly every day, he makes sudden attacks on you-know-who.

I demand, therefore, that CNN put an end to the barrage of emotional assaults against us loyal viewers by a newscaster whose very name brings back memories of the Holocaust and concentration camps.  I call upon CNN to do the right thing: fire Wolf Blitzer.

Granted, the comparison with Nazi Germany isn't perfect.  Wolf Blitzer's parents were Jewish refugees from Auschwitz.

But hey, Robert Lee is Chinese, for goodness's sake.