During last night’s presidential candidates’ debate, Heritage Foundation staff and experts were busy providing their expert analysis on social media. Below is a selection, in no particular order, of some of the top tweets–the most retweeted and favorited–from Heritage staff last night

Fact: education staffing has far, far outpaced student enrollment since the 1970s is.gd/JB9ULU

— Lachlan Markay (@lachlan) October 17, 2012

Marriage: The Greatest Weapon Against Child Poverty –> herit.ag/RahTth #Debate2012

— Paul D. Gallagher (@PaulDGallagher) October 17, 2012

Cut Planned Parenthood funding? Me too! herit.ag/V5yHyT #debates

— Jennifer A. Marshall (@MarshallJenA) October 17, 2012

Jeremy’s generation will pay $1,099 more in taxes in 2013 due to Taxmageddon. ow.ly/ex8v2 #Debate2012 #Debates

— Ryan Nichols (@JetSetterRyan) October 17, 2012

Want to know about women’s issues from a conservative women’s perspective? Look at @marshalljena ‘s paper heritage.org/research/comme… #Debate2012

— Sondra Clark(@SondraClark) October 17, 2012

If oil were subsidized like wind, it would get $50/bb from feds. herit.ag/ABVHrN

— David Kreutzer (@dwkreutzer) October 17, 2012

“Looking to the future” translation: I want you to pay more every time you fill up your car: blog.heritage.org/2012/10/11/wha… #debate2012

— Izzy Ortega (@IzzyOrtega) October 17, 2012

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President Obama again failed to explain during last night’s debate why his administration for weeks refused to admit the terrorist attack on the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya, was, in fact, a terrorist attack.

The Heritage Foundation’s Helle Dale has put together a chronology of key events since the attack, and we have circulated it to the media to focus attention on this important question.

But while the media are now demanding answers about the Obama administration’s misleading story, the president remains evasive in his response. Continue Reading »

After last night’s second presidential candidates’ debate, The Heritage Foundation generated two word clouds.

The word clouds illustrate the top 50 words that were used by President Barack Obama and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney during the debate. The bigger the word appears on the cloud, the more often it was used by each candidate.

Tell us: what differences do you see in the word clouds?

Heritage Foundation experts live-blogged their analyses of last night’s presidential candidates’ debate from Hofstra University.

Here are some highlights:

Emily Goff on Taxes and Spending

President Obama’s approach to spending and debt is hardly balanced.

President Obama’s recycled “balanced approach” mantra surfaced for the umpteenth time this evening—even though Americans know it is far from balanced, never mind mathematically impossible. Raising taxes on wealthier Americans who, in President Obama’s own words, “can afford to pay a little bit more,” would be a direct hit to the very businesses and investors we need to be encouraged, not discouraged from creating jobs. Failing to addressTaxmageddon and inject certainty into the economy is an abysmal failure of Congress and President Obama. It’s already threatening the economy, and causing economic stagnation.

Walter Lohman on China

“Getting tough on China,” something both candidates claimed to aspire to, is good—as long as what is meant by that is ensuring China abides by its international trade commitments. But this is not enough—it is not a trade policy. The U.S. needs to create opportunity with trade, not just manage bad behavior… President Obama said during the debate that he signed three trade deals. Not true…What Obama did was to delay passage of agreements with South Korea, Colombia, and Panama that were already completed. He did so to appease labor unions and others in his political base. During the three years of waiting for the President to submit the U.S.-Korea FTA, the U.S. lost $30 billion in exports.

James Carafano on Libya

What did the Obama administration do about security before the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, and how did it respond afterward? Continue Reading »

The Coles family has lived and worked on its family farm in Virginia since 1785. Their farm, Coles Hill, rests 1,600 feet above what is believed to be 119 million tons of uranium, the largest uranium deposit in the country. The deposit is valued at $6 billion, and contains enough fuel to power all of America’s 104 nuclear reactors for two years.

But the Virginia government believes the risks of mining uranium outweigh the benefits and has blocked the Coles from developing this resource.

The Heritage Foundation’s Jack Spencer and Katie Tubb explain the issue at the heart of this debate:

At issue is whether the Virginia General Assembly will produce regulations that allow uranium mining. Uranium mining would create jobs and wealth in a region that badly needs it, and would provide an important energy source. Those factors are significant, but even more is at stake: the underlying issue over private property rights. May people safely develop their own property as they see fit?

Continue Reading »