Alcoholic-Pirate-Robot John McCain...in Space

So, any self-respecting member of the nerd community is already aware that Colonel Tigh from Battlestar Galactica strongly resembles John McCain. In fact, they have a great deal in common: both have MILF-ish blonde wives with substance abuse issues, both were POWs, both have Tina Fey-bespectacled associates, both have anger management problems, etc. If it ever comes out that McCain is a cylon, I'm going to pick up a rosary and start praying to Edward James Olmos.

Anyway, my question is this: what happened to John McCain? The word from some of my fellow liberals is that McCain has always been as two-faced and drunk on fierce competition as he's been these past few months, but I'm not so sure. Perhaps this is just the kind of naivete that McCain kept referencing during last week's debate, but I recall a completely different man going on the Daily Show a dozen times and charming the college set. I remember buying one of his books for my conservative mother a few years ago and thinking "you know, this guy's had a pretty crazy life, and yet he's still down to earth". The word "maverick" wasn't a part of the conversation back then; John McCain was a decent senator who, while I didn't always agree with him, could present a pattern of logic that I could respect. He didn't need gimmicks or smears to get his point across (though I understand that most of these gimmicks and smears come from the fact that he appears to be losing the race, it also seems like they're only hurting his polling, especially among independents--Check 538 if you don't believe me).

The Keating Five thing has been mentioned to me several times as proof of McCain's past shadiness, going back almost twenty years. I was pretty young for the whole Keating incident, and I honestly don't have a great enough grasp of economics to get into the nitty-gritty of it, but from what Wikipedia tells me, I get the impression that McCain screwed up pretty royally the last time we had a nationwide financial/loan crisis. The more I read about it, the more it reflects McCain's inability to be president, not so much his character (which is my primary concern here). Yes, it appears he accepted gifts and whatnot from shifty people, but that point seems so petty in terms of the greater scandal. I'm not excusing that behavior entirely, but he wasn't taking money from the National Rapist Lobby, you know? I'd be willing to hear from someone who can speak more eloquently than I on the Keating scandal, though.

Whatever happens in November, there will someone new living in that big white mansion down the street. I want to know more about my potential future neighbors.