She probably won't wake conservatives up to the men behind the curtain, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi understands a thing or two about the Tea Party Protests.

An interviewer at Fox TV in San Francisco said "thousands of Americans...are having a tax and tea party today saying that we're taxing and spending our way into oblivion."

Pelosi responded:

"....What they want is a continuation of the failed economic policies of President George Bush which got us in the situation we are in now."

What we want is a new direction. In fact, in the President's initiative - in the Recovery and in the Budget - 95% of the American people get a tax cut. This is a tax cut for the great middle class. This initiative is funded by the high end - we call call it astroturf, it's not really a grassroots movement. It's astroturf by some of the wealthiest people in America to keep the focus on tax cuts for the rich instead of for the great middle class.

Pelosi probably knows a thing or two about the difference. In March 20, 2003, the day after President George W. Bush invaded Iraq, thousands of people participated in a real protest (i.e. no cash rewards) in San Francisco, largely shutting down her district and, in many cases, winding in jail.

To put a finer point on it, though, Pelosi released a statement today to make a point that's been lost amidst all the teabag coverage. "Millions of Americans will see their taxes cut this year thanks to the economic plan of the New Direction Congress and President Obama," Pelosi said. "We enacted the fastest tax cut in history--the Making Work Pay Tax Credit--that workers are already seeing in their paychecks."