The exciting Rashomon-like conclusion to Ed’s post about stimulus intrigue among the House Democrats. Why, oh why, would these two morons be playing dirty with each other when almost half the country’s already willing to replace Congress with a group of people picked out of the phone book?

I have no answer save this.

According to a half dozen Congressional aides and members, Reid went before the cameras Wednesday to announce a stimulus deal before Pelosi had agreed on all the details of school construction financing.

“It’s ruffled feathers, big time,” said a House Democrat speaking on condition of anonymity. “The speaker went through the roof.”

Added one House Democratic aide: “He tried to roll her and she knew it.”…

The problem, according to people familiar with the situation, was that Pelosi hadn’t completely signed off on the Senate’s approach to restoring some of the $21 billion in school construction funding. House Democrats are pushing to have school-repair funding listed as a recurring expense; Senate Republicans want such an allocation to be a one-time-only deal…

People close to Pelosi painted a different picture – one that portrays Reid as the one being rolled. Pelosi, they say, strategically permitted Reid to make his announcement – and then held up her approval to extract a slightly better deal.

Reid has all the leverage; if the Republican three in the Senate walk away, the bill’s dead. Note also that all the leaks here are coming from the House, which shouldn’t be the case if Pelosi put one over on him. He must have been the one doing the rolling. But … why? Why jeopardize good relations with her when they’ve still got umpteen Obama agenda items coming down the pike to push through Congress?