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Keller @ Large: Sometimes It's Better To Stay Silent

BOSTON (CBS) - In a culture where we never seem to shut up about anything, the past few days should teach us a valuable lesson: sometimes, silence is golden.

Pope Francis understood that last week when he visited Auschwitz, the Nazi death factory from World War II. The Pontiff said nothing during his visit, as one news account put it, "expressing his sorrow there in contemplative silence and prayer."

Hours later, he spoke of his horror at what happened there. But he knew that the image of his visit, and his speechlessness at the cruelty of the place, spoke more powerfully than any comment.

Some politicians could learn from his example.

Remember when President Obama unnecessarily angered people by denouncing the Cambridge Police for their handling of the arrest of a friend of his, without a proper understanding of the facts?

He should have no commented that one.

And if Hillary Clinton and her underlings felt they couldn't tell people the truth about the massacre of our people in Benghazi, they should have stuck with "we don't know" instead of peddling known falsehoods.

And now we have the spectacle of Donald Trump, so thin-skinned and lacking impulse control that he crudely lashed out at the mother and father of a slain Muslim-American soldier for their criticism of him at last week's convention.

Khizr Khan
Khizr Khan, father of deceased Muslim U.S. Soldier Humayun S. M. Khan, holds up a booklet of the US Constitution as he delivers remarks at the Democratic National Convention, July 28, 2016 in Philadelphia. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Trump could have, should have simply said something about how he hopes to prevent the needless loss of American lives in overseas entanglements, if elected and left it at that.

Or he could have risked a hernia by clamming up entirely.

Lincoln said it best: "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt."

Listen to Jon's commentary:

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