… the answer, apparently, is “No.”

In case you missed it, last night I broke a bit of news on my blog, The Vermont Political Observer. I’d discovered that the VTGOP’s most recent talking point was without foundation. And since then, top Republicans have continued to promote their discredited argument.

The details: For several days, the VTGOP has been hammering Governor Shumlin with the results of a nationwide small-business survey that reportedly gave Vermont a grade of “F”.

I decided to look into the story. And what I discovered is that Vermont wasn’t included in this year’s grades at all. No F, no A, nothing.

Survey organizers had failed to get enough responses from Vermont businesspeople to be statistically significant, so Vermont was left out of the rankings. As it had also been in 2013. The one and only time Vermont qualified for inclusion was 2012, when it did, indeed, receive an “F”.

But 2012 ain’t 2014, and the Republicans should be ashamed of themselves.

And, of course, they’re not.