McCain confronts temper issue on visit to high school

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – GOP presidential candidate John McCain returned to his high school on Tuesday and recalled that he had been "a pretty rambunctious boy, with a little bit of a chip on my shoulder."

"As a young man, I would respond aggressively and sometimes irresponsibly to anyone whom I perceived to have questioned my sense of honor and self-respect. Those responses often got me in a fair amount of trouble earlier in life," McCain said, moving on to note it's a reputation that's followed him to the Senate, where his temper is something of a legend among some colleagues.

"And in all candor, as an adult I've been known to forget occasionally the discretion expected of a person of my years and station when I believe I've been accorded a lack of respect I didn't deserve," he said. "Self-improvement should be a work in progress all our lives, and I confess to needing it as much as anyone."

If those who find him a bit short-fused now "had known me here on the hill (at Episcopal High School) they might marvel at the self-restraint and mellowness I developed as an adult," McCain said, adding jokingly, "Or perhaps they wouldn't quite see it that way."

Several senators have offered stories of how McCain reacts when he perceives he is being disrespected. In January, Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., told the Boston Globe that the concept of McCain in the White House "sends a cold chill down my spine. He is erratic. He is hotheaded. He loses his temper and he worries me." Last year, McCain aimed the f-word at Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, during immigration bill negotiations. Cornyn now backs McCain. So does Cochran.

Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, McCain's possible Democratic opponent in November, got a taste of it in an exchange of letters in February 2006 after the two tried to collaborate on lobbying and ethics reform legislation.

The letters are posted on Obama's Senate Web site.

Their collaboration fell apart when Obama accused McCain of proceeding along partisan lines instead of looking for fixes. McCain responded with the air of a man who felt disrespected by a young, new colleague, accusing Obama of "typical rhetorical gloss" and "self-interested partisan posturing."

McCain's letter was infused with sarcasm, right from the start.

"I would like to apologize to you for assuming that your private assurances to me regarding your desire to cooperate in our efforts to negotiate bipartisan lobbying reform legislation were sincere," McCain told Obama in the letter.

McCain also said he initially thought Obama was sincere in seeking nonpartisan approaches to ethics reform.

"Thank you for disabusing me of such notions with your letter . . . which explained your decision to withdraw from our bipartisan discussions," he told Obama. "I'm embarrassed to admit that after all these years in politics I failed to interpret your partisan assurances as typical rhetorical gloss routinely used in politics to make self-interested partisan posturing appear more noble."

"Again," McCain continued, "sorry for the confusion, but please be assured I won't make the same mistake again."

And there was more.

"I understand how important the opportunity to lead your party's effort to exploit this issue must seem to a freshman senator," McCain told his junior colleague, "and I hold no hard feelings over your earlier disingenuousness. Again, I have been around long enough to appreciate that in politics the public interests isn't always a priority for every one of us. Good luck to you, Senator."

Obama, like others confronted by what they interpret as overreaction from McCain, responded with a letter saying "I confess that I have no idea what has promoted your response."

He noted that a meeting on the topic seemed to go well and "you thanked me several times for attending the meeting and we left pledging to work together."

"But let me assure you that I am not interested in typical partisan rhetoric or posturing. The fact that you have now questioned my sincerity and my desire to put aside politics for the public interest is regrettable but does not in any way diminish my deep respect for you nor my willingness to find a bipartisan solution to this problem," Obama told McCain.

In a Tuesday interview with CNN, McCain addressed his temper.

"Well, I say that everyone's life is a work in progress. I have a better and more impressive record of bipartisanship and working across the aisle and legislative solutions and leadership than anybody that's running against me by far," he said. "And those leadership qualities required an even temper. And those abilities to reach across the aisle and work with Democrats for the good of my constituents and the country are clear indications that that's a very, very minor thing when it's compared to my record of accomplishment."

McCain said voters expect some anger when leaders find waste and "people behaving badly."

"They expect me to get angry and I will get angry because I won't stand for corruption and I won't stand for waste of your tax dollars and I will demand that people serve their country first and the special interests second," he said.

In wrapping up a q-and-a with Episcopal High School students and faculty later in the day, McCain said the nation yearns for a higher-tone presidential campaign and will get it from him regardless of who the Democrats nominate.

"I pledged a respectful campaign with Senator Obama or Senator (Hillary) Clinton, and I respect them both," he said.