Jonathan Zimmerman is a professor of history and education at New York University.

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In November 1986, the Arizona Republican Party held an election-night celebration at a Phoenix hotel to toast its victorious candidates. The marquee attraction was a two-term congressman named John McCain, who won the Senate seat vacated by GOP icon Barry Goldwater.

McCain delivered a rousing speech and then retired to his suite, where he watched a replay of the address on television. But someone had failed to erect the speaking platform high enough for the 5-foot-9 McCain, so only part of his face was visible.

That unfortunate someone was Robert Wexler, the 20-something head of Arizona's Young Republicans. A livid McCain went back downstairs to look for Wexler, confronting him in the hotel ballroom.

"I told you we needed a stage," McCain screamed at Wexler, jabbing a finger in Wexler's chest. "You incompetent little (expletive). When I tell you to do something, you do it."

John McCain's biography is full of episodes like this one. As far back as high school, his peers nicknamed him "McNasty." He's been known to fling F-bombs at fellow lawmakers when he doesn't get his way. And in a 2006 poll, Capitol Hill staffers ranked him as the senator with the "second hottest temper."

Should we care? I think we should. The most important measure of a human being is the way he or she treats other people, especially those under his or her power. By many accounts, McCain degrades and demeans them.

He's not the only one, of course. In Congress, abusive behavior toward underlings is eminently bipartisan. Remember Cynthia McKinney, the liberal Georgia representative who struck a Capitol police officer when he tried to stop her at a security checkpoint?

McKinney got voted out of office, but most of Congress' bullies are still going strong. Consider four-term representative Anthony Weiner, a rising Democratic star and a leading candidate to replace Michael Bloomberg next year as mayor of New York City. When staffers don't measure up to his standards, Weiner reportedly throws telephones and kicks furniture.

We've all met people like Anthony Weiner; some of us have worked for folks like them, too. You don't want a boss who degrades, harangues and humiliates you. So why would you vote for one? Here you might reply that public officials are elected to, well, serve the public. So if their arrogant and domineering style gets staffers to work harder, it's good for all of us.

Let's leave aside the question of whether this style actually produces better results. Even if it did — and I have my doubts — it would still be wrong. Our lawmakers do more than simply make laws; they're supposed to represent us, in every sense of the word. By electing officials who demean their employees we also demean ourselves.

And that brings us back to John McCain. During the 2000 GOP primaries, operatives for George W. Bush whispered that McCain's notorious temper made him a dangerous choice for president. After all, we don't want a madman with his finger on the nuclear button.

That's absurd. We have no reason to question McCain's judgment, which he has honed over many years of public service.

But we have good reason to question his behavior, especially toward subordinates, which speaks badly of his basic values — and of our own. If you don't want bullies in your schools and workplaces, don't vote to put one in the White House.

Would Sen. John McCain be a good president?