Updated: Pawlenty..."How dumb can they be?"

That is what Minnesota Governor Pawlenty said about the DFL (democrats), last May when he vetoed a State Transportation Bill that would among other things, raise the gas tax that would provide money for highways, transportation, and, oh yeah, bridge repair.  

The gas tax hasnt been raised since 1988.  This coincides with the last DFL Governor in the state. From this mornings MPLS Star-Tribune:

In May, Pawlenty vetoed a transportation bill that included a 7.5- cent-per-gallon gasoline tax hike, calling the increase "an unnecessary and onerous burden."

That bill also included a mandate for yearly inspection of state bridges, which under current law must be inspected at least every two years. DFLers' attempt to override the veto failed.

Pawlenty's opposition to a gasoline tax increase was long-standing and adamant. In 2005 he also vetoed a gas tax increase, asking of DFLers, "How dumb can they be?" Earlier this year he said DFLers "have simply been obsessed" with a gas tax.

Nothing like reality hitting tax-cut fanatics.  More from the Star-Tribune:

But by Friday, Republican opposition appeared to be melting away, with even House Minority Leader Marty Seifert, R-Marshall, tempering his previously fiery anti-tax rhetoric. In May, Seifert derided the gas tax proposal as a "joke" and a "pocket-picking mechanism," but in a Friday interview with Minnesota Public Radio, Seifert said he was "open-minded" about a gas tax increase to fund road and bridge improvements.

If I were a cynic I might call this flip-flopping.

UPDATE:  King w just spoke at the Bridge site and concluded his comments with, "..God Bless the people in this part of the world."  WTF?  What part the world is he from?  Idiot in Chief.