Total Disaster. She couldn’t even remember that the US alliance was with South Korea, not the “Republic of North Korea,” which doesn’t exist.
But she got to have her John Foster Dulles moment at the 38th parallel – 72 years later. Expect this image to be shown hundreds of times if she ever runs for president again (you can read her official remarks in PDF here).
Here’s the AP:
Visiting the DMZ has become something of a ritual for American leaders hoping to show their resolve to stand firm against aggression. [You can say that again.]
At the DMZ, Harris went to the top of a ridge, near guard towers and security cameras. She looked through bulky binoculars as a South Korean officer pointed out military installations on the southern side. Then an American officer pointed out some of the defenses along the military demarcation line, including barbed-wire fences and claymore mines. He said American soldiers regularly walk patrols along a path.
“It’s so close,” Harris said. Brilliant observation.
Harris then visited one of a row of blue buildings that straddle the demarcation line, where an American officer explained how the buildings are still used to conduct negotiations with North Korea. Sometimes they pass messages back and forth and sometimes they use a megaphone, he said.
“That’s high tech,” Harris joked, before adding, “We’ve stepped into history.”
“It’s still going,” the colonel said.
Harris agreed. “The past and present are happening every day.”
She then walked out of the building and up to the demarcation line. On the North Korean side, two figures dressed in what appeared to be hazmat suits peeked out from behind a curtain in a second-floor window. Then they disappeared back inside.
Harris described this week’s missile launches as provocations meant to “destabilize the region” and said the United States and South Korea remain committed to the “complete denuclearization” of the North.
“I cannot state enough that commitment of the United States to the defense of the Republic of Korea is ironclad,” she said.
“In the South, we see a thriving democracy. In the North, we see a brutal dictatorship,” she said before flying out of the border on a U.S. military helicopter.
Nothing original, not even a peep about seeking a peace or working with the South. Women Cross DMZ, the peace advocacy group, was not impressed.
But incredibly enough, the White House thought it was all great, as reported by Bloomberg:
West Wing perceptions of vice president have warmed, aides say
Trip solidifies image of world leader who speaks for Biden
Really? Reminders of Sarah Palin, except she never made it to the vice presidency, like this amateurish Cold Warrior.
