If you've tracked current FCC boss Kevin Martin's tenure at the FCC, it should be pretty clear he's no consumer advocate. Still, between his rather toothless crackdown on Comcast and his new wireless broadband plan, he's doing a bang up job convincing the mainstream press otherwise as he prepares for a post-FCC political career. USAToday chats with Martin about his plan to offer smut-filtered, free, 384kbps wireless broadband to all Americans (which, for a number of reasons discussed last week, will probably never happen). Some excerpts from USAToday's love letter to Martin's Utopian vision:Social obligation? This is the same guy who helped kill off independent ISP competition, keeps broadband penetration data out of the hands of the public, and never met a telco-lobbyist supported position he didn't like. The same Kevin Martin who strips consumer protection laws away wherever possible. If you're buying this, I've got a fantastic, limited edition Hayes compatible 300 baud modem that can be yours for the rock-bottom price of $7,000.

First, the project already is facing legal threats from those who believe that a government-sponsored project that employs content filters is unconstitutional. Second, Martin knows the project will never make it past incumbent industry lobbyists, who are already busy convincing lawmakers the project poses non-existent interference threats. Third, a company you've never heard of building a broadband network to 95% of Americans in a few years? Right.

Martin's interest in the project is two-fold: the "smut filtering" aspect of the project appeals to family values groups, who'll be the backbone of his post-FCC political career. Also, like the FCC's (sometimes too enthusiastic) embrace of the failure that is power line broadband, support of a national wireless network that will never be built gives the illusion that Martin has done something during his tenure other than propping up a largely uncompetitive duopoly.