Twitter Debate Between Brit Hume and David Limbaugh Mirrors Battle Within the GOP

Brit Hume, the senior political analyst at Fox News, and David Limbaugh, an author and political commentator, had a lively Twitter discussion on Tuesday regarding a battle within the Republican Party between its conservative and moderate members.

Many conservatives have found themselves frustrated by what they see as a lack of action by the Republican majority in Congress on numerous issues, such as taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood. They argue that Congress should be sending conservative bills to the president’s desk, even if he vetoes them.

Meanwhile, others point out that the president will in all likelihood veto any such measures, and the difficulty of exceeding the votes required to override that veto.

The Twitter debate started when Limbaugh tweeted:

I think I get the thinking behind the establishment bent toward caution but I DON’T get their defeatist assumption that we’ll always lose.

— David Limbaugh (@DavidLimbaugh) October 13, 2015

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Hume responded that the GOP simply doesn’t have the votes to override a presidential veto. Limbaugh argued that isn’t the only goal.

@brithume No, Brit. I don’t mean lose the immediate vote. I mean ultimately lose the PR war vs. Dems, which is the end game.

— David Limbaugh (@DavidLimbaugh) October 13, 2015

@DavidLimbaugh Who is assuming loss in GOP vs DEM pr war? There is worry that extreme positions will turn off centrist voters GOP needs.

— Brit Hume (@brithume) October 13, 2015

@brithume The key to winning might lie in rallying the base. I don’t think playing to centrists is the GOP path to victory. Just my opinion

— David Limbaugh (@DavidLimbaugh) October 13, 2015

@brithume So, the assumption is we’ll always lose if we stand up — lose with centrists or whomever. I don’t think it’s necessarily true.

— David Limbaugh (@DavidLimbaugh) October 13, 2015

@brithume maybe so, but I think we need to take our case to the people. Could have really made hay on the PP harvesting for example.

— David Limbaugh (@DavidLimbaugh) October 13, 2015

@brithume Did they show any of the videos? And … http://t.co/kCT9v1bffr

— David Limbaugh (@DavidLimbaugh) October 13, 2015

Hume and Limbaugh continued the conversation with other Twitter users.

@davidharsanyi and you can be for a shutdown without being a screaming maniac. And for a shutdown for a while — to make your case.

— David Limbaugh (@DavidLimbaugh) October 13, 2015

Because the shutdown ended a year before the vote & was followed by disastrous Obamacare rollout. https://t.co/1CSpLZ0Z0G

— Brit Hume (@brithume) October 13, 2015