What Will Tony and Sam Say Now?

When tornadoes tore through Kansas, Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius dared to mention that the National Guard was unable to react properly because too much equipment and too many troops were in Iraq. Tony Snow sputtered indignantly, claiming that Gov. Sebelius had never requested anything but "FM radios."  Snow's statement was dutifully parroted by the media, but unlike Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco, who was roudly pilloried by both White House and press after making similar claims, Sebelius struck back quickly, proving that she had made requests.  Still conservative darling Sam Brownback denied there was a problem.

Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback also disputed Sebelius after visiting the destroyed town on Monday. Brownback, a Republican candidate for president, said local officials and the Kansas National Guard commander all told him they have the resources needed to respond.

Oddly, even then Brownback's story didn't quite jibe with what the National Guard commander himself was saying.  

Maj. Gen. Tod Bunting, the state's adjutant general, said the Kansas National Guard was equipped at only about 40 percent of its required levels, down from the 60 percent that it had at the start of the war.

Neither Snow nor Brownback felt compelled to retract their statements, despite those pesky facts.  So it's doubtful that this week's testimony on the status of the Guard will change thing.

Witnesses at a House Committee on Homeland Security subcommittee hearing agreed that the National Guard's equipment shortages, which total about 50 percent, result in slower emergency response times and the inability to adequately respond to disasters of extended duration or widespread impact. ... The witnesses also expressed their concern for the age and condition of the National Guard's equipment.

"It is a common occurrence for the driver of a National Guard truck or the pilot of a National Guard aircraft to be younger ... than the equipment he or she is operating," Maj. Gen. Robert P. French said.

Nearly all of the Guard's 2½ and 5-ton trucks are 35 to 40 years old, the deputy adjutant general for the Pennsylvania Army National Guard said.

That's not really true, of course.  The Guard has plenty of newer trucks -- it's just that they're in Iraq.

For Snow, half-truths and whole lies are his bread and butter.  Smearing a governor and denying a problem to defend the administration's policies is just another day at work.  For Brownback, who came to gawk at the ruins even as Gov. Sebelius was still trying to work around the lack of equipment, these denials call for a special achievement award in disgusting.