Monica Lewinsky

Re “Clinton Weighs a Public Speech of Contrition,” Aug. 22: I find the media’s outcry for an apology from President Clinton to Monica Lewinsky hypocritical in the extreme. It’s true, he owes her an apology for using his position to take advantage of a subordinate less than half his age, but men and women have been lying, cheating and breaking each other’s hearts for thousands of years.

Normally, Lewinsky would recover from her romantic disillusionment and broken heart and move on with her life so much the wiser. The real long-lasting and painful damage to her life has been perpetrated by Ken Starr and the media. They have paraded her foolishness and naivete for the world to see and made her recount repeatedly and in detail her part of this personal transgression in front of strangers. All this for their own political agenda and quest for ratings. I see no apology coming from this inhumane group, only vengeful glee.

DAN RADLAUER

Los Angeles

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I voted for Clinton in the last two elections but I would not vote for him again. His confession is that of a man who felt no contrition. It shifted blame and sought sympathy. Clinton owed Lewinsky a serious apology for having her go through the hell she has endured this last year. Lewinsky has been betrayed by a friend and by a lover and those scars will last her all of her life. Not once in his performance did Clinton ever express any regret that he, the president and employer of Lewinsky, consented to having a 21-year-old girl enter into an affair with him.

Clinton could have saved her, and this country, enormous embarrassment by simply having the sense to say no. Clinton has no excuses and his performance only justifies his resignation. He should now give the Democratic Party and Al Gore an opportunity to repair the damage he has caused.

JAMES P. HERZOG

Beverly Hills

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Clinton apologize to Lewinsky? For what? It should be obvious to anyone with a modicum of acumen that Monica was the predator.

GEORGE MARGO

Malibu

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We do not care about President Clinton’s sex life. We do not care that he lied about it. It is a personal thing. We do care about the good he has done and want him to continue: He has worked to save Social Security; he worked for a better medical care system; he was the major player in getting the settlement in Ireland; he has worked to save the environment; he has fought to keep abortion legal; he is working for campaign finance reform and much more.

That is why we support him.

FELITA and MILT WAXMAN

Marina del Rey

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I would like to thank Monica, Linda, Paula and their den mother, Kenny S., for making TV news so repulsive this past year that I have rediscovered dew-laden mornings, books, contemplation and Jupiter rising in the night sky. Thanks, sports fans, and to all you Clinton haters who watch the sludge; maybe you too will get a life someday.

JACQUELINE KERR

Los Angeles