Yesterday's issue of the Los Angeles Times contains an interesting profile of John McCain's health written by Ralph Vartabedian. Skipping past some of McCain's physical ailments and general problems associated with his fairly old age (at least for a presidential candidate), the article also focuses mental health, particularly his quickness to anger.

Questions about McCain's temperament also have dogged him for years. His personal style is often combative, and some who have run afoul of him in government say he is vindictive; Newsweek magazine once dubbed him "Senator Hothead." By most accounts, it's a personality that predates his wartime experience.

If McCain were trying to dispel the notion that his fuse is excessively short -- an attribute that many would consider unacceptable in any political leader, let alone a President -- he certainly was not effective this week. Paul Kane has the details over at WashingtonPost.com.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) hasn't spent much time in the Capitol this year as he seeks the GOP presidential nomination. But one of his rare appearances this week provided a pretty salty exchange with a fellow Republican.

During a meeting Thursday on immigration legislation, McCain and Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) got into a shouting match when Cornyn started voicing concerns about the number of judicial appeals that illegal immigrants could receive, according to multiple sources -- both Democrats and Republicans -- who heard firsthand accounts of the exchange from lawmakers who were in the room.

At a bipartisan gathering in an ornate meeting room just off the Senate floor, McCain complained that Cornyn was raising petty objections to a compromise plan being worked out between Senate Republicans and Democrats and the White House. He used a curse word associated with chickens and accused Cornyn of raising the issue just to torpedo a deal.

[...]

McCain, a former Navy pilot, then used language more accustomed to sailors (not to mention the current vice president, who made news a few years back after a verbal encounter with Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont).

"[Expletive] you! I know more about this than anyone else in the room," shouted McCain at Cornyn. McCain helped craft a bill in 2006 that passed the Senate but couldn't be compromised with a House bill that was much tougher on illegal immigrants.

The word around Washington has long been that John McCain is unable to restrain his temper. I distinctly recall one Capitol Hill Republican very familiar with McCain telling me back in 2000 that he believed the Arizona Senator was not stable enough to serve as President. Regardless of whether or not that was too harsh of a sentiment (and I believe that Republican endorsed George W. Bush in the primaries, if my memory serves me correctly), it seems fairly clear that McCain is prone to acts of unnecessary anger. And as I mentioned above, for a lot of Americans the notion of supporting a White House candidate who is unable to restrain his aggression -- particularly following the presidency of a man who needlessly invaded a country (Iraq) and is saber rattling against another (Iran) -- is almost unthinkable.