"I just want to advise people watching at home, playing that now-popular drinking game of you take a shot whenever the Republicans saying something that's not true: Please assign a designated driver," Weiner said. "This is going to be a long afternoon."

Weiner was speaking in the middle of the debate, so he billed it as a half-time speech inviting Americans to choose between the people and the insurance companies. (For a different take, see Republican Congressman Chris Lee's editorial in the Buffalo News today.)

"This is kind of your half-time wrap up for the debate that we're having here today and those are the two sides," Weiner said. "Ladies and gentlemen, pick your side."

The debate--if one can call it that--is entirely symbolic, since Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has already said he won't bring the bill to the Senate floor, even if it passes the House. And, for good measure, President Obama has said he'd veto it, even if it somehow cleared the Senate.

Weiner has a way of stealing the show in these kinds of situations, but today he is likely to be overshadowed by Steve Cohen, his colleague from Tennessee, who likened the Republican arguments to a "big lie just like [Joseph] Goebbels," just a week after the political world was busy calling for a more civil discourse.