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Interesting idea.
Off the top of my head, I'd have a couple of concerns. The first is that even small spacecraft would probably need something more powerful than a AIM-9 to de-orbit them. If you could tether yourself to a spacecraft, I'd guess that it would be more efficient (mass-wise) to just use the motor on the spacecraft you've launched (which would need to be a decent size to get to a reasonable number of spacecraft upon launch). The tether itself is probably the biggest obstacle - guiding it on-orbit would be tough, to say the least, and since most spacecraft aren't designed to be lassoed (or grappled), it'd be awfully touchy to make sure you don't just rip the target to pieces as you try and tug it out of orbit. Plus, a tether introduces some weird, space-specific problems like differential charging, and the orbital mechanics could get pretty hairy (which lead to the aforementioned problems with crashing)...
I think, as fun as it sounds to lasso a spacecraft, I'd probably still just leave the silly buggers up there...

-SV

Actually the lasso approach is kind of simple. Ever see a skyrocket at the end of a rope? Push a small rocket on a tether over the top (well you know what I mean it's a relative statement). The rocket is perpendicular to the tether, once past the satellite you fire the rocket and it wraps itself around the rocket.
But as I was typing this, I realize an "armor piercing" rocket with a grappling hook inside it, sort of like a molly bolt would work. It penetrates into the satellite and then opens it's prongs. (use a delay fuse) Then fires a rocket and drag it down. Remember most satellites to work have to have a particular orientation to the earth. Anything that disturbs it and better still drags it into even the upper atmosphere is sufficient to render it useless. Even at 80 miles up solar panels actually create aerodynamic drag.