You're setting up a straw man. That's not my argument. The argument is that the data bolsters the claim that more debt correlates with slower growth.
Nobody disputes the idea that more debt can result in slower growth. But there's a huge difference between saying that growth with high debt levels has historically been about 2.2% (compared to a more desirable 3%+ with lower debt) and saying that high-debt-growth has been -0.1%. That's an error of 220% in the wrong direction.