"Say it!"

The 80's comedian Sam Kinison was known for one particular element of his act: the scream. Kinison's routine always involved a topic of which he'd speak reasonably for a moment only to shatter the calm with a loud scream directed right at his audience.

I first became aware of him as a result of his first appearance on the Tonight show. The only part of the routine I remember involved a conversation with a gentleman in the audience. Sam asked him if the lovely lady sitting with him was his wife.

"Yes? Lovely...do you love her? Do you love her?! DO YOU LOVE HER?!!!!"

Say it!!! SSSSAAAAYYYYY IIIITTTT!!!! Aaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrgggggghhhhh!!!!!"

That phrase has stuck with me and is the first thing that comes to mind when I'm reminded of his humor. It's now synonymous in my mind with his act.

We live in a world these days where we often refuse to say what needs saying. Our political correctness keeps us from calling a spade a spade in our current conflict. We operate in a time where naming the enemy is taboo.

Heather MacDonald spoke to the point in these comments about Thursday's terror arrests:

...his [Bush's] security policies should stop treating every American like the enemy. The most cursory analysis of successful and intending “Islamic fascists” to date reveals an almost unbroken uniformity of characteristics: They are virtually all young Muslim men of Middle Eastern, south Asian, or north African extraction.

"Islamic fascists"

In an encouraging moment, the President in his initial remarks about the London arrests on Thursday morning called the spade a spade:

The recent arrests that our fellow citizens are now learning about are a stark reminder that this nation is at war with Islamic fascists who will use any means to destroy those of us who love freedom, to hurt our nation.

Some have been surprised at the use of more forceful descriptors and the attempt to more properly define what the President clearly sees as a broader war (though some disagree). Some have been hopeful that this last week's events will serve as a reminder of the bigger picture we face beyond Afghanistan and Iraq.

Others however, continued engaging in the same old rhetoric in the same old way. This video report from Friday's Today show on NBC provides ample evidence of the problem:

"This is a trend, but never the less most of the plotters do appear to come from more traditional backgrounds."

All of the arrested men were Muslim (despite the effort here to highlight the Christian roots of the two 'home-grown' members of the terror cell in this headline): Most of the British suspects had Pakistani roots, except for Don Stewart-Whyte and Brian Young. Both shunned their Christian roots, grew beards, started wearing traditional Islamic dress and married Muslim girls.

In case you missed it, each of the suspects are "all young Muslim men of Middle Eastern, south Asian, or north African extraction." The two who were not share the more critical characteristic of embracing jihad against the West and showed a willingness to sacrifice their lives to that cause.

Why won't we call the spade a spade? Whatever it is that keeps us from that clarity hurts our ability to fight. We need to be clear.

In a refreshing moment, the President was. Now the rest of us need to catch up.