Always interesting when the editors at the Washington Times wipe away their kool-aid moustaches and attempt to inhabit the psyche of the average Vermonter. Like trying to wedge a square, crazy peg into a round, sane hole.

But they’re professionals, of course, and so occasionally they make the effort. Like this morning: in case you missed it, the WT sat down to try to dope out the reasons why Bush might have avoided Vermont for the last seven years, even as he visited the 49 other states in the Union.

And who did they turn to for the straight dope? You guessed it: Ari Fleischer. To wit:

“Vermont is the opposite of George W. Bush: It’s granola, it’s crunchy, it’s liberal, and it’s socialist,” said former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer, who attended Middlebury College in Vermont and still vacations there.

And Mr. Fleischer knows firsthand what the president faces: When he went back to his alma mater — a school of about 2,000 students — to receive an award, “about 1,000 protesters showed up.” No place is safe in the state, Mr. Fleischer said: “Even the tallest mountain peak, they’ll backpack their way up there to protest the president.”

Bet that. And just for the record, Ari, ain’t no valley low enough, either. Or, you know, river wide enough.

You see our point.

[Cue The Supremes, “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”]