U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., is the tea party’s latest target for removal from public office.

But revelations from that campaign allege one of the most disgraceful dirty tricks imaginable against the veteran lawmaker.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/scandal-grows-over-photo-thad-cochran-wife

Tea party candidate Chris McDaniel is challenging Cochran. Several individuals who are supporting McDaniel, though, have charged with conspiring to take pictures of Cochran’s bedridden wife, Rose, at the nursing home where she’s lived since 2000.

To what end these pictures were being used has yet to be determined. However, the allegations suggest a despicable intent to somehow use the gravely stricken spouse of a political candidate for some political purpose.

The scandal has shaken the Mississippi political landscape to its core. Cochran had been thought to be facing a stout challenge from the extreme right wing of his party. My guess is that the allegations against those seeking to post pictures of Mrs. Cochran will all but scuttle the effort to toss the veteran senator out of office.

One guy was charged with breaking into the nursing home to photograph Mrs. Cochran to be used in an anti-Cochran political ad; at least two other tea party zealots have been charged with conspiracy.

If the allegations prove true, then we’ll have to set a new standard for dastardly political campaigning.