At the rate this is going we may have to move on to soap opera metaphors. As you may recall all the buzz this week-end was about the "stupid" takeover deal Carl Icahn and Microsoft presented Yahoo with (go here for a refresher), which they immediately, and loudly, turned down. However, some people are now wondering whether Microsoft head Steve Ballmer is actually intentionally playing stupid and using Icahn as a (unknowing?) pawn in his larger takeover game. Says the NYPost:

Sources close to the Microsoft-Yahoo deal talks, as well as some Yahoo shareholders, believe Ballmer is intentionally making offers that he knows Yahoo will reject — and using Carl Icahn to do it — as part of his longer-term plan to either buy Yahoo on the cheap or permanently hobble it as a competitor.