Republican presidential candidate John McCain knows he has a bit of a temper.

“In all candor, as an adult I’ve been known to forget occasionally the discretion expected of a person and station when I believe I’ve been accorded a lack of respect I did not deserve,” the maverick with a reputation for “straight talk” said Tuesday.

Rumors of McCain’s uncontrollable temper, substantiated by his Republican Senate colleagues, dogged him during the Republican primaries.

During that time Republican Sen. Thad Cochran (Miss.)., a Romney supporter, told the Boston Globe the thought of a “hot headed” President McCain “sends a cold chill down my spine.” Former Sen. Rick Santorum (R.-Pa.), another Romney supporter, also made recorded robo-calls on behalf of the Romney campaign in which he said, “As a conservative I don’t agree with McCain on many issues and I don’t think he has the temperament and leadership ability to move the country in the right direction.”

Since dropping out of the primaries, Romney has thrown his support behind McCain and recently joined him on the campaign trail, prompting speculation of a McCain-Romney ticket.

Concerns about McCain’s temper persisted before the Republican primaries, though.

McCain reportedly told Texas Sen. John Cornyn (R.) “f--- you” in a private meeting at the height of the Senate’s debate over comprehensive immigration reform last year.

News outlets have published other stories that stated McCain said “Only a a------ would put together a budget like this,” to former Senate Budget Chairman Pete Domenici (R.-N.M.) and “I’m calling you a f------ jerk!” to Sen. Charles Grassley (R.-Iowa.)

McCain noted his outbursts were not one of his positive traits. “Self-improvement should be a work in progress in all our lives, and I confess to needing it as much as anyone,” McCain said in prepared remarks at his high school, Episcopal High in Alexandria, Virginia.