I'm with Safire (yeah, Safire):
In his opinion today, I'd have to say Safire puts some good language to the huge issue and the huge bypassing of said issue- the media rules upcoming from the fcc. And i like that he starts the essay with a nod to North Carolina's gift to the FCC- the FCC's Sandra Day O'Conner, Mr. Martin:
"His name is Kevin Martin. He and his wife, Catherine, now Vice President Dick Cheney's public affairs adviser, are the most puissant young "power couple" in the capital. He is one of three Republican members of the five-person Federal Communications Commission, and because he recently broke ranks with his chairman, Michael Powell (Colin's son), on a telecom controversy, this engaging North Carolinian has become the swing vote on the power play that has media moguls salivating."
Safire, as has been Eric Alterman, Atrios, Eschaton, and almost every other blog i read, is wondering where the uproar is...and then realizing no one in the popular media is reporting no the upcoming change.
"Must broadcasters of news act only on behalf of the powerful broadcast lobby? Are they not obligated, in the long-forgotten "public interest," to call to the attention of viewers and readers the arrogance of a regulatory commission that will not hold extended public hearings on the most controversial decision in its history?"

Ah, but i save the best for last. Safire takes a break in the middle of his write-up to respond to the obvious question: aren't you a conservative? how come you're siding with the dmocratic members on the FCC here?
"Does that sound un-conservative? Not to me. The concentration of power � political, corporate, media, cultural � should be anathema to conservatives. The diffusion of power through local control, thereby encouraging individual participation, is the essence of federalism and the greatest expression of democracy."
At the risk of sounding patrioniz-istic, i really enjoyed that bit. It seems Safire recognizes that Republicans don't match consistantly to an idea of conservativism in the same way democrats so often stray from progressivism. And such inconsistency, i would assert, is perfectly ok. but that's another story.