November 10, 2011 10:31 PM UTC

Tancredo: Cain Should...Fire His Chief of Staff!

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• by: Colorado Pols

We suppose that’s one way for embattled GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain to address his mounting public relations problems–as The Hill’s Cameron Joseph reports:

Conservative pundits and former Cain staffers are calling for the resignation of Herman Cain’s chief of staff, who they say has damaged the GOP candidate’s credibility.

The calls for Mark Block to resign come as Cain’s campaign deals with sexual harassment allegations that threaten to ruin his candidacy.

Block originally fingered a rival campaign for leaking the story (before walking that back) and made accusations against a reporter Tuesday night on cable television that proved to be false. Those moves come on top of accusations Block broke election laws in Wisconsin and reports he was arrested for drunken driving…

And former Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.), a longtime Cain backer, said Wednesday afternoon that Block should “step aside” as the spokesperson for the campaign.

“We’re talking about damage control. And when something like this happens, which requires a really well-reasoned response, he’s not the guy,” Tancredo told the conservative publication National Review. “The campaign has handled this poorly… It’s a reflection of a relatively naïve group of people. They have good intentions but they’re not seasoned. It’s not working out.”

Apparently on Tuesday, Cain chief of staff Mark Block identified a reporter at Politico as the son of one of the women now publicly accusing Cain of sexual harassment. But it’s false: the last name “Kraushaar” isn’t all that common, but former Politico reporter Josh Kraushaar is no relation to Karen. And reportedly, Josh doesn’t even write for Politico anymore.

But generally, we have to say that this latest round of pro-Cain apologetics, throwing the chief of staff under the wheels for his bogus and flailing responses to Cain’s growing problems, seems like a deflection from the real issue–the one only Herman Cain can resolve. Tom Tancredo and a few inside-baseball conservative pundits might look at the last week and a half of news, and conclude that Cain has a “staff problem.”

Most people would point to a more fundamental problem.