House Protocol Guide Draws Fine Line Between Acceptable and Prohibited Outbursts

South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson was clearly out of line when he shouted "You lie!" at President Obama during the president's address to a joint session of Congress. It says so right in Section 370 of the House Rules and Manual.

But maybe, just maybe, he might have gotten away with shouting "Someone in here is a nitwit!"

In light of the House decision to discipline Wilson for his outburst, it would be useful to know where the line of decency actually falls in the halls of Congress. And it turns out that many of the official "dos" and "don'ts" of the House of Representatives are not so obvious. Also, many of them are clearly dated.

For lawmakers considering blurting out in the future, here's a list of what members of Congress can and can't do in the Capitol:

You can call unnamed officials "our half-baked nitwits handling foreign affairs."

But you can't call the president a "liar," or a "hypocrite."

You can refer to the government as "something hated" or "oppressive."

But you can't describe a presidential veto as "cowardly."

You can accuse the president of using "legislative or judicial pork." And you can call his message a "disgrace to the country."

But you can't call him "intellectually dishonest."

You also can't accuse him of "giving aid and comfort to the enemy." And you can't invoke his alleged "sexual misconduct."

A 1909 report justifies some of the general standards.

"It is ... the duty of the House to require its Members in speech or debate to preserve that proper restraint which will permit the House to conduct its business in an orderly manner and without unnecessarily and unduly exciting animosity among its Members or antagonism from those other branches of the Government with which the House is correlated," the report said.

Translated, that means: "Let's keep the volume down, folks."

According to the report, members of Congress are allowed to challenge the president on "matters of policy," but they are to steer clear of "personally offensive criticism."

"For example, a Member may assert in debate that an incumbent President is not worthy of re-election, but in doing so should not allude to personal misconduct," according to House rules.