I cannot picture in any shape or manner Gingrich playing dead and basically giving up, or being accepting of 0' as a pres, let alone "our" pres. OTOH, McCain, I can... easily, and McCain did in fact "play dead" (and without really ever getting back up... he just played dead for most of his 2008 campaign).
I thought McCain ran the worst presidential election I personally have seen. It was so weird. It was almost like he was surprised that he got the nomination and really didn’t want it. However, once he lost and said his concession speech. He pretty much had to say the Obama was “our President” because he was. I mean if God forbid Newt loses to Obama, in his succession speech, “Newt will say congratulations Mr. President” or something along those lines. That is how American politics work.