Broadband Lobbyists Gush Over Re-Appointment Of Trump's FCC Boss

If you've been paying attention, you may have noticed that Trump-appointed FCC boss Ajit Pai is viciously unpopular. There are dozens of reasons for this, ranging from his assault on net neutrality and broadband privacy rules, to his efforts to protect cable's set top box monopoly while fiddling with data measurement to downplay a lack of competition in the space. Pai's the type to gut broadband funding programs for the poor while professing to be a stalwart champion of bridging the digital divide -- a man whose self-professed dedication to transparency is notably absent in his policy making.

This week, Pai was up for re-confirmation for a new five year term at the FCC. Consumer groups tried desperately to convince lawmakers to block his re-confirmation. It was a well-intentioned but arguably-futile exercise, since even if Pai was blocked, he simply would have been replaced by some other industry rubber stamp (most likely either current FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly, or Brendon Carr). Still the historically contentious 52 to 41 vote got notably closer than most people expected, with many politicians quick to highlight Pai's more-than-cozy relationship with giant cable operators:

Not too surprisingly, major ISP lobbying and policy organizations were quick to trip over themselves in gushing about Pai's re-appointment, using rhetoric so detached from reality as to border on high art. Comcast's top lobbyist David Cohen (Comcast apparently hates it when you call him what he is) proudly proclaimed that Pai's re-appointment was a major boon to consumers:

We commend the Senate’s decision today to reconfirm Ajit Pai as FCC chairman. Throughout his over five years at the FCC as a commissioner and during his nine-month tenure as chairman, Ajit Pai has favored deregulatory policies aimed at encouraging innovation, investment, job creation and economic growth – all in an effort to best serve consumers.

Yes, nothing "serves consumers" like gutting rules protecting them from Comcast's growing monopoly over broadband, allowing the cable giant to impose punitive usage caps and overage fees, saddling consumers with added costs while making competition harder for competing streaming providers. Or perhaps Cohen was referring to the way Pai crushed the FCC's attempted dismantling of cable's hardware monopoly over the cable box, thanks to a massive disinformation effort involving claims that cable box competition would hurt minorities, destroy copyright, confuse consumers, and rip the very Earth off of its axis.

Former FCC boss turned top cable indust