But his argument that "Big Oil" has been "gouging" consumers just fell as flat as a tire with a spike through it.

Gas prices have plunged from more than $4 a gallon just months ago to less than $1.80 per gallon in Madison this week.

Doyle doesn't seem to care. He recently told the State Journal editorial board that he plans to keep rolling ahead his oil tax scheme on its rims. So what if oil company profits are deflating. Doyle said the oil companies made so much in the past that they still need to pay for it in the future.

What's really going on is that Doyle and other state leaders are desperate for money. They're staring at a record $5.4 billion state budget hole. And Doyle seems to think the oil tax is a nifty way to bring in new revenue without riling the public.

But Wisconsin motorists won't be fooled.

Doyle pretends he can stop the oil companies from passing through such a tax to Wisconsin consumers. He talks about hiring a team of lawyers to audit the oil companies' books.

But no other state has pulled that off. So why should anyone believe Wisconsin can?

Doyle's oil tax is just a roundabout way of increasing the state's gas tax at the pumps. If Doyle wants to raise the state's gas tax, then he should do so in an honest way that acknowledges the financial impact on state motorists.

Even if Doyle did succeed at seizing the profits of the oil companies to help balance the state budget, what's next? Which industry will be targeted next for making too much money? And exactly how much profit is too much before the state steps in to punish success?

Domestic oil companies may be greedy. But that doesn't mean they control the vast and complicated world oil market.

When world demand for oil was soaring in recent years, the oil companies enjoyed record profits. Now that world demand is slumping with the recession, the price of oil has crashed.

Doyle was forced to acknowledge last year that he himself has profited from oil profits. Like so many people with retirement plans, Doyle had personal money invested in mutual funds that sunk huge sums into ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips.

Drumming up oil company outrage was phony back when gas prices were high. So it certainly won't work now that gas is cheap.