I don't think it was a slip. I think he said that to stir the crowd. To make the story greater than it really is. A NG unit responding to a crisis in which 10,000 are dead and the NG unit only has 40% of their equipment, makes it look like someone is falling down on their job.
Truth is no unit ever has 100% of it's equipment. Something is always broken, going in for repairs, being replaced. 40% is not a great number...but then again "equipment" is a pretty broad word. Are we talking rifles? HMMWVs? Dozers? To make it look like the NG was not ready when this major "crisis" struck, is great fodder to feed the crowd of sheep. Maybe we can have a celebrity charity event and raise money for the 10,000 dead in a sleepy farm town in Kansas. And Kanye West can tell us how Bush hates black people.
I really dislike it when people turn someone else pain into their gain. Sad really.
-Sp0t