WASHINGTON — Throughout this dirty battle between the pro-Boeing and the pro-Northrop Grumman delegations in Congress, it looked as if all the dirty politics were being played on one side, the Boeing side. And that has looked to be to the detriment of the Northrop Grumman/EADS partnership.

But now it looks like our side is starting to onion up, especially after allegations have come out that Boeing may have had an unfair advantage.

“This issue goes directly to the fundamental fairness of the tanker competition,” Sen. Jeff Sessions said last week. “How can we expect the playing field to be level if one company was given sensitive information about the other’s bid? If that is the case, the best way to rectify the situation is to demand that information be shared in both directions. I applaud the willingness of the Northrop Grumman/EADS team to bring this issue to the Pentagon’s attention.”

However, Sessions has taken it to another level with an amendment that would block the entire project altogether if Boeing’s pricing data isn’t released.

Early on, when Reps. Todd Tiahrt, R-Kan., and Norm Dicks, D-Wash., were playing dirty pool with parliamentary tricks and procedures, Rep. Jo Bonner and both Sens. Sessions and Richard Shelby were crying foul. But, that just wasn’t working. Now it looks like they’ve finally got it — you have to fight fire with fire.

There’s too much on the line to let one side win by attempting to act as if we’re above the fray.

Joe Scarborough: No Forgiveness for Former Auburn Coach Tommy Tuberville

Flashback to December 2006: The Auburn Tigers had just defeated the Alabama Crimson Tide for the fifth year in a row and former Auburn Coach Tommy Tuberville was sitting pretty high at the time. (The streak would be eventually extended to six games.) But following the 22-15 Crimson Tide defeat by the Auburn, Tuberville went over to the Auburn section at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa and flashed up five fingers, signifying the fifth win in a row for Auburn.

Two weeks following that MSNBC Joe Scarborough, who was hosting a primetime show on the network at the time — now hosting a morning show on the network — went on regionally syndicated sports talk host Paul Finebaum’s radio show and expressed his displeasure over Tuberville’s gesture by deeming him a middle-aged loser.

Scarborough, who represented Florida’s First Congressional District, just across the state line in Pensacola, is an Alabama fan, having graduated from the University’s law school in 1985.

However, he’s also been a very outspoken of Glenn Beck, who appears on the rival Fox News Channel and, like him or not, has become a power in American politics. Scarborough has warned viewers on his program not emulate Beck and has said the Fox News Channel’s antics are not good for the GOP.

A couple of weeks ago, as Alabama was thrashing North Texas, Scarborough made himself available on the social network site Twitter and was fielding questions and comments from his followers. I posed the question to Scarborough who the bigger loser was — Glenn Beck or Tommy Tuberville.

“Oh Good Lord,” Scarborough promptly replied. “That’s not close. Tommy Tuberville is the biggest loser.” A cable network news rivalry may appear fierce when you flip through the channels, but it’s no match for the Alabama-Auburn rivalry based on that response.

Back in June, Scarborough and his female sidekick Mika Brzezinski (who allegedly has chiseled abs) made an appearance in Fairhope at Faulkner State Community College to promote his book, “The Last Best Hope: Restoring Conservatism and America’s Promise.”

A Shelby Tradition: Annual Introduction of a Balanced Budget Amendment

He’s 0-for-27, but that’s not going to stop the annual tradition first started by Sen. Richard Shelby in 1981. During six of his eight years in the House and 22 years in the Senate, Shelby has introduced a bill that would start the process to amend the Constitution, which would force the government to balance the budget.

“Since the federal government lacks the will to spend only what it collects, action is necessary to force fiscal discipline,” Shelby waxed poetically. “That is why today I introduced legislation to amend the U.S. Constitution to ensure that the federal government balances its books each fiscal year. Throughout my tenure in Congress, I have devoted a significant amount of my time to this idea. I have introduced a balanced budget amendment in every Congress since 1981. I believe this legislation is needed now more than ever.”

This has always been a curious ritual to me because Shelby has never met an earmark for Alabama he didn’t like. And this has been demonstrated by the senior Alabama senator’s ability to secure funding for any number of statewide endeavors. If there was a HUD grant needed for a new Dairy Queen on McFarland Boulevard in Tuscaloosa, Shelby’s your guy (I’m being facetious, of course).

But fortunately for the staffers working for Shelby — they can recycle the same language for their press releases.

“A balanced budget amendment to the Constitution is the only certain mechanism that will break the cycle of deficit spending,” Shelby wrote in a release Oct. 1, 2007, and also in his column dated Oct. 1, 2009, as well. “This measure would ensure that the government does not continue to saddle our children and grandchildren with the current generation’s debts.”

Keep fighting the good fight, senator.