Sasse added that he was "convinced that he didn't use the term 'stupid bastard' lightly -- he reserved it for those he really cared about."

Sasse was one of nearly 20 senators who took to the Senate floor on Tuesday to remember McCain, who died on Saturday after battling brain cancer for more than a year.

Many of McCain's colleagues have humorously recounted McCain's well known temper and his penchant for giving people he liked otherwise negative sounding nicknames.

Sasse recounted during his speech how McCain talked about how he and fellow prisoners would tap out messages to each other at the "Hanoi Hilton," the prison where McCain and others were held during the Vietnam War.

"I said 'how long did it take to do that,'" Sasse said about the code system. "And he looked at me like I was just a complete idiot. And he said 'what did I care? What the hell did it matter to me, we had infinite time.'"