Not our fault!!

The Ronald Bouwman hit-parade doesn't stop. Of course, we have talked about him before-- every few months, the Oklahoman decides to run a rant-filled letter spouting off right wing talking points, usually peppered with history lessons about Communism and whining about the "liberal" media.

His most recent letter is no different:

Too many in our 'ignorantia' blindly rate that lump of the U.S. House and Senate as a monolithic group. In 2006, Democrats were handed control of both houses, and our current failures embarked. After a shameless leftist slander campaign against exiting President George W. Bush, Barack Obama was elected in 2008; Democrats gained control of the entire government.

Sounds like something we have heard before:

National deterioration began to develop with the elections in 2006, when Democrats gained control of the U.S. House and Senate. It escalated after Barack Obama's 2008 election.

Indeed, even his hilarious "ignorantia" line is something he has used before.

Let's hold off on asking if Mr Bouwman's assessment is true for a second and just ask this: would any real newspaper run two letters a few months apart from the same guy saying essentially the same thing?

In any case, it is clear that Mr Bouwman has brainwashed himself. Somehow, for him, everything was fine in the United States until 2006, and only then did things go downhill. This, even though the housing crisis and its aftermath (I assume that is what he is referring to when he says things like "our current failures" and "national deterioration") have roots that go back much further, and with plenty of blame to go around for all political stripes.

And let's be real here. Was there really a "leftists slander campaign" against the exiting President Bush? I mean, 9/11, the fake "weapons of mass destruction" thing and the invasion of Iraq, massive tax cuts for the rich leading to soaring debt, the failed attempt to privatize Social Security, the ineptitude with Katrina-- it is hard to imagine that anyone would have to engage in slander to tarnish Bush's reputation.

Anyhow, Bouwman rants on:

The Affordable Care Act – Obamacare – passed the Democratic House on Nov. 7, 2009, and the Senate on Dec. 24, 2009. Too many in both Democrat-controlled houses didn’t even know what was in the bill. In advance of final passage in March 2010, Speaker Nancy Pelosi famously said Congress needed to pass it 'so you can find out what is in it away from the fog of the controversy.'

The only reason Pelosi's statement is "famous" is because right-wing media keep trotting it out as though it were actually controversial. Of course, it isn't. But since Bouwman surely limits his media intake to outlets like Fox News and, of course, the Oklahoman, he really has no idea of what is real and what is sheer echo-chamber fabrication.

Bouwman concludes his summary of recent policics:

Republicans regained control of the House in 2010, and held it in 2012, but they could accomplish nothing because Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., blocked nearly all things passed by the House from any consideration. It’s incredible that so many still blame Republicans for the terrible mess made by the left.

At least he admits that the House hasn't done anything. But is it really Harry Reid's fault? To be sure, Reid has used various procedures to block certain votes. But is it really the case that "nearly all things passed by the House" since 2010 has been blocked by Reid? Not really, though Congress is on pace to pass the fewest laws in a long, long time:

The number of bills passed in the first session of the 112th Congress, the lowest ever, is about one-third of the average number of bills passed in first sessions of Congresses and less than half of the median number passed in the first sessions of Congresses since 1947.

The Senate has passed the fewest percentage of House bills (32.4 percent) of any Senate during that time period. The House has passed 40.4 percent of Senate bills, which is the fourth-lowest percentage for the same time period.

Without doing more significant research it is hard to know if this is really a Harry Reid issue, but it seems clear that the not-passing-laws thing is one that both sides of the aisle are engaging in, and not just something that Democrats do alone.

Moreover, it is unclear would have been passed to "clear up the mess" that "the left" has made, but those details are no doubt not important to Mr Bouwman. For him, it is all about the left being the problem and Republicans as the heroes-- if only they could just do their job.

It is a lame sentiment, but one that this paper loves to run in its letters section-- time, and time again, unfortunately.