A great big tip of the hat to Glenn Beck for this one. Apparently Representative John Spratt, a Democrat from South Carolina and former DNC Chairman Donald Fowler were on an airplane heading home from the convention in Denver and having a good laugh that hurricane Gustav was about to hit New Orleans just as the Republican convention was starting.

What these two brilliant public servants failed to notice was the guy sitting behind them wearing the Ronald Reagan t-shirt. It was Caleb Howe from redstate.com. Caleb pulled out his camera and took a video of the exchange.

Here’s a little bit of Caleb’s interview with Glenn Beck:

GLENN: And what was the describe the scene a little bit.

HOWE: Well, you know, he had people sitting around turned paying attention to him and he was putting on his big show and he started laughing and everybody said along with. And, you know, when he said this is just proof that God is on our side, everybody was nodding in agreement and chuckling to themselves widely and everybody generally seemed to accept the premise.

GLENN: Did you ever introduce yourself?

HOWE: I did not, no. Although Congressman Spratt’s wife did notice my Reagan shirt I was wearing at the time and give me a funny look. So…

GLENN: Now, you went right away and you posted this video.

HOWE: Correct.

GLENN: And then you were called how long was it before you were called a right wing nut job?

HOWE: A little less than 48 hours. It was about a day and a half.

To some people, catching a couple of politicians making jokes about a hurricane hitting New Orleans makes a guy a nut job. Somehow, that just doesn’t change the words that came out of the mouths of these two jerks.

I wonder how big a deal this would have been if it were a couple of Republicans caught on video laughing about a hurricane striking New Orleans.

If you’d like to let Congressman Spratt know what you think, you can contact him through his website.