Elephant walk

Whacking the Bushies

by Seth Gitell

Now that Senator John McCain and presumptive Republican presidential nominee George W. Bush have buried the hatchet, will McCain go easier on Andrew Natsios?

McCain has been rough with the new Big Dig chief. When Natsios began to describe the state's local road work in testimony before the Senate Commerce Committee last week, the senator snapped, "Mr. Natsios, you're telling me things I'm not interested in." There may have been more at play than McCain's role in overseeing the use of federal dollars. McCain may still have been smarting over his primary loss to Bush -- and taking it out on Natsios, who has been a Bush-family hand for years.

Natsios, who has served as a state representative and head of the state Republican Party, was among four state Republicans who ran Bush's primary effort against Ronald Reagan in 1980. Natsios later served as the director of the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance under President Bush and has remained close to the family.

Governor Paul Cellucci qualifies as a Bushie as well -- he vowed to do whatever he could to help Governor Bush defeat McCain this year. Making things tough for such people would be a viable form of political revenge for the Arizonan. Maybe, with Tuesday's events, revenge will be less on his mind -- and he'll ease up on the Commonwealth.