The Hill reported on Wednesday that Cain campaign manager Mark Block received a firestorm of criticism from former Cain staffers, my friend over at Hot Air Ed Morrissey, former Republican Congressman Tom Tancredo, and National Review:
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.
“Mark Block has to go,” prominent conservative blogger Ed Morrisey of Hot Air wrote Wednesday morning. “If he’s not gone by tomorrow, no one will take this campaign seriously again — nor should they.”
A former Cain staffer agreed. “Mark Block has no regard for basic ethics or accounting practices,” said the staffer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to speak frankly. When asked if Block was hurting Cain’s campaign and should be fired, that former staffer said, “yes.”
“He is no strategist,” the staffer said. “He is impulsive and obsessive.”
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, Block is staying put with the Cain campaign. A highly placed Cain source sent the Water Cooler an e-mail: “This is a hysterically funny rumor. The Inside the Beltway crowd is in the midst of a nervous breakdown regarding the success the Cain campaign is having with the American people. Mr. Cain believes in the old adage, ‘You continue to dance with the one that brung ya’ to the dance.’”
