The tension between Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the conservative wing of the party has flared anew over the governor's embrace of a temporary sales tax increase to help balance the overdue state budget.

In addition to a growing rift between Schwarzenegger and GOP leaders in the Legislature, the governor's old friends at conservative talk radio station KFI in Los Angeles have turned on him.

Afternoon hosts John & Ken, who led the Schwarzenegger bandwagon when he ran in the 2003 recall and received regular chummy calls from the governor in the early days of his administration, took a surprise call from Schwarzenegger on Monday.

The exchange (it's the one labeled "budget" at 3 p.m. on Aug. 18, and begins about 15 minutes into the show) is heated and entertaining. At one point, the radio hosts suggest Schwarzenegger must still be feeling the effects of anesthesia from his knee surgery over the weekend. Toward the end of the conversation, Schwarzenegger asserts: "Don't lie to the people" and dismisses their badgering of him as "nonsense Republican right-wing talk."