NPR's David Folkenflik reminds us that during the 2008 presidential campaign, Republican nominee Sen. John McCain said he was in favor of a British-style "question time" that would give members of Congress a chance to quiz the commander in chief.

Now, question time in the U.K. sometimes looks pretty rowdy. But would it be OK for a member of parliament to shout something like "you lie!", as South Carolina Republican Rep. Joe Wilson did last night?

Not by our reading of the official rule covering "unparliamentary language":

Unparliamentary language breaks the rules of politeness in the House of Commons Chamber. Part of the Speaker's role is to ensure that MPs do not use insulting or rude language and do not accuse each other of lying, being drunk or misrepresenting each other's words. Words to which objection has been taken by the Speaker over the years include blackguard, coward, git, guttersnipe, hooligan, rat, swine, stoolpigeon and traitor. The Speaker will direct an MP who has used unparliamentary language to withdraw it. Refusal to withdraw a comment might lead to an MP being disciplined. MPs sometimes use considerable ingenuity to get around the rules; for example Winston Churchill famously used the phrase "terminological inexactitude" to mean "lie".

Here's David's story about McCain's idea: