Presidential hopeful Tim Pawlenty doesn't like high gas prices. Unfortunately, he apparently has no idea where they come from. Well, Tim, when a congressional GOP loves an oil industry very much …

Pawlenty complained that Obama is "proposing is a tax increase on energy at a time when the gas is $4 a gallon," adding that the idea is "ludicrous." Well, that's technically true; Obama's proposing a tax increase in the sense that he wants to reduce handouts to oil and gas companies, and yes, he's doing it at a time when gas is $4 a gallon. But the two have nothing to do with each other — nixing the subsidies won't increase prices at the pump. And T-Paw's pet solution, increased exploration and drilling, won't lower them.

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Unregulated oil and gas speculation, on the other hand … now THAT's where you get high gas prices. That and the stork.

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