Any of you regular readers of the Vermont political blogosphere probably haven’t missed the ubiquitous, mercurial and entertaining Haik Bedrosian’s full-on attack against PoliticsVT, claiming that it’s a tool of the Tarrant Senate campaign.

Now, I’ve long admired Haik since the time he ran for Mayor of Burlington while still in high school. And since Haik’s been wondering why nobody seems to want to pay attention to his campaign, I thought I’d show him some respect by taking the time to offer my views on this. So here they are…

Because of the long ago launch of PoliticsVT in January of 2005, and the overall blandly non-partisan tone of PoliticsVT, I think most people regard Haik’s claim as self-evidently absurd. And knowing Haik’s penchant for Andy Kaufman-like absurdity, it seemed to most - or at least to me - to be an elaborate bit of political theater with the possible intent to coax the Dead Guvz into outing themselves, just on principle.

So, I’ve been waiting for the punchline, though I’m no longer so sure it’s going to come.

And even though I seriously doubt Haik’s claims, who knows, he may be right. Regardless, he should certainly be commended for trying to shine some light on the activities of the Hayes Group.

I also think the timing of this effort has been a bit unfortunate for Haik, too.

See, it comes oddly at a time when a certain self-promoting bottom feeder (no link is deserved and this person will hereby be referred to as "Bottom Feeder"), who’s trying to make a name for himself by aggressively deriding others (and, in the process, walking right up to the edge of Frisching himself) has arrived on the scene. Further, through back channels, I’ve come to find out that both Haik and Bottom Feeder have allegedly used similar threats of "war" in private emails to their targets.

This had led at least one person I know to suggest, half-seriously, that Bottom Feeder might really be Haik’s own version of Andy Kaufman’s, obnoxious alter-ego, Tony Clifton. But, since there’s really nothing very similar in their writing styles, I doubt strongly that this is the case.

But a better question may be this:

Instead of PoliticsVT, is it Haik Bedrosian and Bottom Feeder who are on Rich Tarrant’s pay roll?

Let’s try this thought experiment…

Haik’s correct when he says that the Dean campaign, the recent Mayoral race in Burlington, and the Lamont/Lieberman primary are proof of how "powerful" the blogging community can be. And he’s correct that the Tarrant campaign would be keeping an eye on this power.

But, here’s the thing, blogging seems to largely be a power base on the left…

Instead of putting money into something so non-threatening as PoliticsVT, would it not make more sense to insert a few instigators into Vemont’s blog world, who launch vulgar attacks and make seemingly crazy claims, to try to undercut the legitimacy of the netroots’ efforts and help to negate its influence? A sort of virtual version of the FBI’s infiltration of peace groups in order to stir up trouble?

And how can we square Haik’s staunch support for Bernie with his pro-Douglas inclinations? Suspicious disconnect, eh?

OK, I don’t really think Haik’s a Republican mole (or Bottom Feeder, either, for that matter). But, I think, it makes more sense to me than the PoliticsVT angle.

I do wonder, though, that at a time when we political bloggers have made some headway in being taken seriously - what with the Bloggers BBQ and the online Lt. Governor’s debate drawing coverage in print and on TV and radio - there could likely be some interest in trying to cut our legs out from under us before we have a chance to do something more politically significant.

But, who really knows what’s real and not real in the wild west of the net?

Maybe, just maybe, Haik knows more than us all.

[Crossposted at Green Mountain Daily]