Uh, it seems to me civility in politics died probably during the 1964 presidential campaign, when Lyndon Johnson's wunderkind Bill Moyers made up all of these lies about Barry Goldwater.
And then it went on, with Hubert Humphrey lying about Richard Nixon, George McGovern lying about Richard Nixon, James Carter lying about Gerald Ford, James Carter lying about Ronald Reagan, Walter Mundane lying about Ronald Reagan, Michael Dukakis lying about George Bush, William Clinton lying about George Bush, William Clinton lying about Robert Dole, Alphonse Capote Gore lying about George Bush, the Bostonian Billionaire lying about George Bush, the idiot currently in the White House lying about John McCain, the idiot currently in the White House lying about Mitt Romney, &c., &c., &c.