Bob McCarty Writes

At first glance, one might think David Catron’s a bit crazy for beginning his piece at American Thinker today by describing Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D-Ill.) as a man who, “for all of his well-documented faults, has performed at least one valuable public service.”  In reality, he’s spot-on.

Under the headline, Pay-to-Play Politics, the SEIU and Obamacare, Catron follows that subdued applause for “Blago” with this explanation:

He has made it clear to the meanest intelligence that our new President-elect emerged from a hopelessly corrupt political culture.  Barack Obama oozed from the same stinking Chicago swamp that produced Blagojevich, and a man whose formative years were spent wallowing in the muck with such creatures isn’t likely to be long in White House before the stench of pay-to-play politics begins to pervade the place. That this has important implications for the future of health care in this country has already been demonstrated by a brazen episode of cronyism involving one of America’s most prestigious health care institutions, the University of Chicago Medical Center.

If the American people allow the tentacles of Chicago-style pay-to-play politics to reach into the health care reform arena, we’re likely to see a decline in health care delivery similar to the one already being experienced by citizens of the United Kingdom as described in the opening paragraphs of a Telegraph article published today:

NHS records show that 3,645 people died as a result of “patient safety incidents” – including botched operations and the outbreak of infections – between April 2007 and March 2008. The figure was 1,370 higher than two years earlier.

Patient groups have warned that the true toll is likely to be higher because some hospitals do not record all incidents.

Food for thought.