I’ve got this coffee mug in my cupboard, it’s beautiful in its gaudiness. A bright, American flag wraps around it, providing a backdrop to an over-sized cutout of George W. Bush and the words he spoke at his inauguration. I bought it on the same trip to DC in 2002 when an old friend of mine posed in front of a life-like picture of George I and George II. I was a proud Republican then. Funny how it can all change.

Of course I was influenced by my parents, who had always voted Republican — even in the Bob Dole debacle of 1996. They scoffed at me when, enamored with idea of kicking the system in the nuts, I voted for Ralph Nader in 2000.

But as the Bush administration’s time in office dragged on, and the religious right began to hijack the party, I found myself tearing up my Republican card. I felt the party was leaving me in search of greener pastures in the sanctuaries of mega churches, but that didn’t mean my beliefs ever changed. For example:

• I support the war in Iraq and think the surge was a great success. I believe we need to stay the course there while finding a way to reinforce our positions in Afghanistan.

• I believe in small government. I’ve always been a Jeffersonian Republican in that way. I pray that we never see a Supreme Court that overturns Roe v. Wade, but if it does, I believe states should have the right to decide whether to allow the procedure or not. If it’s good enough to attack the gay marriage (which I support, hooray Connecticut!) issue that way, it should be good enough for abortion as well.

• I support fiscal conservatism and a balanced budget. There is no way us being as indebted as we are to China and other foreign governments is good for our fiscal health and security.

On all these issues, I stand with John McCain. The problem is, in his rush to secure the base, he left me behind.

To me, John McCain used to be a Maverick (drink!) Until the campaign, I’d never seen him pander — especially to the wingnuts on the Religious Right. To the contrary, he built his well-deserved reputation reaching across the aisle, displaying a tremendous understanding of foreign policy and making a real effort at political reform.

That is, of course, until he started campaigning for President this time around.

Where once he was astute enough to realize practicing patience and kindness with countries like Vietnam would help our nation, now he’s displaying the temperament of my crotchety old neighbor, shaking his fist at Iran and telling them to get off our lawn before he bombs them.

The attempt at political showmanship when he suspended his campaign, the impossible promises about balancing the budget in his first term, his attacks on the media, his last-ditch negative ads and oh dear Lord don’t get me started on Sara Palin, all go against everything I thought I knew about John McCain.

When you look at footage of McCain rallies, with the mob-like crowds shouting threats and racial epithets at members of the media and calling Obama a terrorist, traitor and all manner of racial- and religious-insults a member of polite society wouldn’t bear to repeat, it seems that this campaign is going off the rails.

With McCain and Obama, I’d had high hopes for a campaign where the level of discourse would be raised out of the muck. It seems the very base McCain is pandering to has forced it back down. They even turned on him and booed at a town hall meeting when he tried to defend Obama as “a decent, family man, [a] citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues and that’s what this campaign is all about.”

Moments like that show me, somewhere down there, McCain is still the man I thought I knew. He’s lost, though, in the whirlwind of this campaign. He’s letting those around him — his staff, his supporter and even his running mate — take this campaign to levels lower than I’ve ever seen.

Constantly painting Obama as “different than you and me,” hoping the crowd infers from that message all of their deep-seeded fears and prejudices is a huge mistake. The campaign promoting divisiveness and hatred, going against the very principals of bipartisanship, tolerance and cooperation that John McCain has built his entire career on. Failing to reel them in shows a lack of leadership and a failure to make his campaign adhere to the strict standards of discourse we’ve come to know him for. It’s sad, tragic even, that such a great man is ultimately being undone by the slime he’s surrounded himself with.

This is the man who helped to normalize relations with Vietnam. This is the man who bucked the system and — with help from key Democratic leadership — pushed for political campaign finance reform. He’s spoken his mind to leadership from both parties when he felt so inclined. He was a straight-talker. He was definitely someone I thought could — and should — be President.

Now, I feel its best that he lose this campaign and ride off into the sunset like the maverick he purports to be.