Thomas Shields (July 25) still refuses to look at his own party’s failures.

Intelligence agencies set talking points for all agencies of government while facts are gathered and confirmed. Benghazi was a serious investigation. Fact check.org says it cannot say the administration was intentionally misleading the public. There were huge mistakes made for sure. The last administration lied the U.S. into a war costing 4,488 American lives, 32,021 wounded, at a cost of $2 trillion.

Yes, Benghazi was tragic. Is Obama worse than the Bush administration? Please.

The people of the Middle East need to learn to solve their own problems. The U.S. cannot jump into every conflict around the world at the behest of Americans like Shields. American strength does not come from the barrel of a gun, it comes from the values system. It would be wrong to have the world thinking U.S. values are based on invasion, war and control.

Harassment of conservative organizations? The bombshell IRS audit released in May omitted information about liberal groups at the request of House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., according to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration’s office. The IRS was flagging liberal and conservative groups equally. Chairman Issa was on a witch hunt and got caught.

The deficit is falling under the Obama administration by $200 billion more than projected.

Why doesn’t Shields want to talk about the 37 times Republicans voted to repeal Obamacare? Iraq?

Could it be because the Republican Party is a shameful embarrassment incapable of governing?

David Marquis, Lewiston