Oh, look! It's Republicans behaving like Republicans, which means thugs and ratf*ckers. Today was a big day for the Mississippi Tea Party in court, with their Vice Chairman being arrested for conspiracy today, in addition to the arrest already made of blogger Clayton Kelly, who published the photographs of a bedridden Rose Cochran in the nursing home where she resides.

Their point, it seems, was to smear Thad Cochran with allegations of an affair by putting up photos of his helpless wife next to the story. Typical GOP campaign tactics, right? If you can't win on ideas, just smear the sucker.

TheClarion-Ledger:

Attorney Mark Mayfield, a vice chairman of the Mississippi Tea Party and an officer with the Central Mississippi Tea Party, was arrested Thursday by Madison police.

And then there was Richard Sager:

District Attorney Michael Guest confirms that Richard Sager of Laurel is the second person arrested today in relation to the Rose Cochran photo scandal.

Sager is a P.E. teacher at Mason Elementary School in Laurel. He's also the assistant boys soccer coach for the high school. He served as the head soccer coach at Mississippi Delta Community College from 2002-06.

And finally, John Beachman Mary of Hattiesburg. WJTV:

John Beachman Mary of Hattiesburg is charged with two counts of conspiracy to include the exploitation of a vulnerable person and the photographing or filming of another person without permission where there is an expectation of privacy.

Of course, Chris McDaniel, teabaggers' choice for Senate candidate, had nothing at all to do with it. He released a statement after the arrests:

"As we have said since day one, the violation of the privacy of Mrs. Cochran is out of bounds for politics and is reprehensible. Any individuals who were involved in this crime should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law," McDaniel said in a statement.

But then, there's quite the cozy little gathering of McDaniel supporters in this photo:

Mark Mayfield canvassing for Chris McDaniel. [/image

Also, check out the rest of the story for the sweet photo of McDaniel and Mayfield together, just the two of them.

I'm certainly not a Thad Cochran fan, but this behavior doesn't happen in a vacuum. When you have a bunch of thugs running political machines in states, this stuff happens. Politics may be a dirty business, but there should be some lines folks don't cross. Let's hope these arrests have some teeth and send a message.