Byron Dorgan: “I am critical of a mindset that says it does not matter how big you get, you can combine all you want and earn all you…”

“I am critical of a mindset that says it does not matter how big you get, you can combine all you want and earn all you want and the public interest be damned. I am critical of that, because I think there is a public interest in maintaining and fostering competition in this country. The fewer corporations you have in an industry, the greater concentration you have, by definition the less competition you have. And that does not auger well for the American people. The Wall Street Journal has an article. I want to read the headline: ``Immediate Consolidation Has Left and Right Worried About Big Firms Getting a Lock on Information.'' You talk about an odd couple. A picture of Bill Bennett and Jesse Jackson. That is both ends of the political spectrum, both of them essentially saying the same things: Worried about media concentration, media consolidation, stemming the flow of ideas, the competition that comes from having ideas moving from different centers of energy. We need to reform our telecommunications laws. But this bill is in deep, deep trouble. If you try to push this bill through the White House, I think the President is going to veto it.”