John McCain supposedly lost his temper during a recent meeting with Hispanic business leaders at the Capitol’s Strom Thurmond Room. Fellow Republican Senators John Thune of South Dakota and Mel Martinez of Florida also attended the meeting. The three were attempting to attract more Hispanic support for the Republican Party. It looks like McCain forgot anger is not endearing.

McCain became angry when the issue turned to immigration. McCain, a long time advocate of immigration reform, has broken the Republican Party on the issue a number of times. However, he appears to hold a lot of anger over the fact that Hispanics voted for Obama two to one in the Presidential election.

“You people — you people made your choice. You made your choice during the election,” McCain is reported to have said.

McCain said that if Hispanics want movement on the immigration issue, then they should expect Obama to lead not him.

Some attendees said that McCain stared at the ceiling while other people spoke and rolled his eyes at other times.

Both Thune and Martinez disputed reports that McCain was angry. Thune called it a “spirited discussion.” Now my experience is that when someone describes a discussion in that manner, it means things got a little hot.

Some have made issue that the “you people” comment is tainted with racism, but McCain has never shown a hint of racism, except to his North Vietnamese captors. Frankly, that is perfectly understandable. Nevertheless, am I the only one who finds it oddly coincidental that McCain refers to people of color as “you people” in the Strom Thurmond Room?