PETER WEHNER: Lessons From Gingrich’s Self-Immolation. “It’s worth recalling that in 1980 the GOP candidate Jimmy Carter and his team were most eager to face was a fellow named Ronald Reagan, whom they considered to be a gaffe-prone, outside-the-mainstream, aging ex-actor. The candidate the Carter team most feared was Howard Baker, a smooth, accomplished, reasonable and reassuring senator from Tennessee. Howard Baker ended up being the chief of staff in the second term of Ronald Reagan’s presidency.”

UPDATE: “Laughingstock.”

ANOTHER UPDATE: Don Surber: “The right turned on the former speaker. Here is why. . . . He burned bridges instead of building them.”