BOEHNER’S BIGGEST MISTAKE: A FAILURE OF IMAGINATION: “Weak, ineffectual, incompetent — he is, to my mind, the worst speaker in my lifetime,” Rick Moran writes. “But there is another factor that caused his downfall: an adherence to old-fashioned ideas about responsible governance and a failure to imagine a way to lead his fractious, undisciplined mob of a caucus.”

Boehner seems like he’d be a nice guy to have a beer and a smoke with – but the second coming of Gingrich, he certainly wasn’t. Speaking of whom, any chance you’d sign up for another go at the rodeo, Newt?

Related: “From a Democrat’s perspective,” Cruz said, “why would you let an appropriations bill pass if you can just wait until the end of the fiscal year, come right up to the edge of the cliff, and know Republican leadership will surrender? You don’t even have to guess on it. They promised you from the outset.”