Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff
“In the history of American vice presidential debates, no line is more engraved in public memory than Lloyd Bentsen’s 1988 smackdown of Dan Quayle for trying to draw a personal parallel to John F. Kennedy. The encounter on Tuesday between this year’s candidates for the second-highest federal office may have set a new and more virtuous reference point. During a segment on gun violence, Gov. Tim Walz noted that his teenage son had witnessed a shooting at a community center. ‘Tim, first of all, I didn’t know that,’ replied his opponent, Sen. JD Vance. ‘And I’m sorry about that. … It is awful.’ That moment of empathy capped a turn toward civility as refreshing as it was rare in national politics these days.” (10/02/24)
https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/the-monitors-view/2024/1002/Civility-s-art-of-listening