Public sees difference

In his Dec. 5 Other Views column, Does it matter if Cain had an extra-marital affair?, Edward Wasserman, hangs the whole subject of personal behavior/public life on an inconsequential figure. He also ignores the cumulative effect of the sexual-harassment charges. If Herman Cain is not an upstanding citizen as well as a smart business man, then who is he to put himself in the public eye? He’s not much more than a smart huckster of self-improvement books and his own clueless self.

Bill Clinton and, indeed, Newt Gingrich, had something of substance and importance for the country, and members of the public were smart enough to value the public, if not the private, man.

The public mostly seems to accept or reject Gingrich’s personal history according individual political views. In Cain’s case, there was more outrage over the long-running infidelity of the affair than over the sexual-harassment charges, which, again, point to the public’s common-sense response: repulsed by many years of deception as opposed to occasional lapses.

Mary Motes, Redland

Keep American flying

When a loving family has a catastrophic issue, it likely will band together to solve it. That is the way I see it with American Airlines. It is a major part of the economic family in this region. Labor and management must band together to prevent the problems that brought down such iconic companies as Eastern and Pan Am.

During the course of reorganization, both sides must be willing to give and take to keep the airline running. Failure will give the local economy a black eye, and if the company folds, the economy will go on life support. American has a huge investment in Miami and, like it or not, it must not go the way of the other two carriers. With the current economic situation, I just don’t see any other giant carrier moving in like American did when Eastern went under.

Robert Maristany, Miami

Party of the elite

In the Dec. 5 story Tampa business leaders hope to strengthen ties with Cuba, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen says, “I find it unfortunate when some look to partner with the Cuban regime and place the value of dollars over the value of people.”

This from one of the leaders of a party that has put corporate profit above all else, a party that wants to privatize public services for corporate profit, defund public schools in favor of private for-profit schools and protect the profits of the millionaires and billionaires of the Wall Street and corporate elite over the American people.

Sorry, Ms. Ros-Lehtinen, but your slip is showing.

Steven Eagle, Miami

IRS to the rescue

My husband and I also were victims of tax identity theft ( Couple lose their ID, refund in IRS scam, Dec. 5).

I disagree with one person in the article who was critical of the IRS.

When we started to wonder about our refund, I called the IRS. That is what started the ball rolling toward eventually getting our refund. Yes, we were upset, and the process did take about 85 days from start to finish. The agents we spoke with were informative and helpful.

It is unfortunate that fraud is so common in our state, and filing electronically opens a lot of doors for scammers. If all those people who spend so much time trying to run scams used that energy and thought for good, we would live in a much better world. Let’s direct our anger toward the perpetrators, not the agency that will eventually help.

Dianne Stutts, Pembroke Pines

Keep America strong

Re the Oct. 1 letter No service: Doesn’t the writer realize that without business owners and millionaires there would be no taxes collected to give out entitlements? Where does he think the money comes from? Why would anyone want to work hard to support so many who get things for free, thanks to the Democrats?

Having been born during the Depression, I lived through World War II. My husband served during the Korean War. Along came the Cold War, Vietnam and those going on now. We need to keep our country strong with careful defense spending. We would be in great shape if our government stopped giving away billions to our enemies.

Pat Joseph-Becker,

Key Colony Beach