http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/gingrichs-bumpy-start-deepens-doubts-about-his-presidential-candidacy/2011/05/17/AFNOp65G_story.html?hpid=z3

Newt Gingrich apologizes to Paul Ryan

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) on Mark Levin’s radio show revealed that Newt Gingrich had called him and is beginning to understand the “magnitude of his words” blasting Ryan’s Medicare reform plan on “Meet the Press.” Ryan, ever the gentleman, says “I think he just misspoke.” Gingrich apologized and Ryan said he accepted the apology.

It’s possible Gingrich looked worse at the end of the day than at the beginning. He started defiant, he ends remorseful. He first denied what he had done, now he comprehends, we are told. It is also true that Ryan came out smelling like a rose. The party rallied around him, he never appeared peeved, and Gingrich surrendered by nightfall. Not a bad showing of intellectual, political and personal standing.

I’ll posit this: Gingrich isn’t the least bit sorry for what he said; he’s just terribly sorry it probably ended his presidential ambitions, such as they were.