I used to have a lot of respect for John McCain.

On top of his war service, McCain built a Senate career as a bipartisan, moderate legislator who got things done. In 2000, he campaigned as the moderate, reasonable alternative to George W. Bush, and got steamrolled by the Bush/Rove war machine for his efforts. He deserves praise and thanks for the American people for his career up through 2000.

But he learned the wrong lesson from his defeat. He learned that the only way to win the Republican nomination was to sell his soul to George W. Bush's conservative base. And so, over the past few years, he worked on transforming himself from a moderate into a conservative. He has drifted steadily rightward, until we could no longer even recognize him. Sadly, he is no longer the reformer or the moderate he used to be. McCain of 2008 has said things and adopted positions that would have horrified McCain of 2000.

Now, just two months before the election, John McCain has finally completed his transformation from a maverick, reform-minded moderate to another extremist right-winger under the tutelage of Karl Rove. His graduation prize for completing his personal transformation was the support of the extremist Christian Right. The NY Times reported a couple of days ago that McCain was looking to the Christian Right to save his campaign, but this year, that's unlikely. He can't win this year by simply turning out the base, and he's lost his chance to appeal to moderates.

That's what's so ironic about the whole campaign: after years of hard work to break with his moderate past, it turns out that he needs that legacy to win the election. Unfortunately, it's too late. John McCain would have had better luck sticking with his principles. The 2008 campaign is a sad end to a once-great career.