Member of Congress Tweets

February 8, 2012

The Librarian of Congress caused a little stir on the Hill this week when he was asked about archiving all the Twitter feeds. Members of Congress questioned the value and the expense to archive all Twitter feeds. Now, archiving and Congress is something close to our heart here at the C-SPAN Archives.

We can attest to the size of the endeavor from our own experience. Since 2009 we have been following Members of Congress feeds. We now follow 371 House and 84 Senate members. These members have generated 29,000 tweets. But, that is only part of the story. We also follow all the responses that these tweets generate. When we include those, the number balloons to 1.8 million tweets archived. For example, a tweet by Speaker Boehner on the budget the other day generated over 1,000 responses. On average, each tweet generates 62 responses.

These tweets can be found on the member’s bio page. You can click on reply and see how individuals have responded to the original tweet.

It is early to know the value of these Twitter feeds in the long term. On the short term, they provide a snapshot into the concerns of members of Congress and the reaction that these concerns generate. The size of this archive is small, just 450 megabytes, but it is but a small fraction of all daily tweets that the Library of Congress might archive.

CPAC 2012

February 6, 2012

This week C-SPAN will once again cover the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). CPAC annual conferences go back to 1986 when President Ronald Reagan spoke to the conference.

Over the years, many conservative political leaders have spoken at CPAC. These conferences are show the history of conservative ideas and personalities over time. Many would be presidential candidates have appeared at CPAC.

You can review previous year’s programs by following this link.

State of the Union on C-SPAN

January 20, 2012

President Obama will deliver his State of the Union address this week. While the speech is covered on many other networks, C-SPAN is the only network that lets you see the preparations including the Senate, the First Lady, Supreme Court justices entering, and the president’s cabinet parading in the order of succession. Don’t miss the pagentry of this event on C-SPAN. You can review previous State of the Union addresses in the C-SPAN Video Library here.

Margaret Thatcher, The Iron Lady

January 18, 2012

With the release of the new Margaret Thatcher movie, a number of people have realized that the C-SPAN Video Library is a virtual movie theater for Margaret Thatcher fans. Just search on her name and you will find 124 programs on which she appeared. These include a large number of Prime Minister Questions, but also speeches to party conferences and appearances in the United States. So, get your popcorn and watch Margaret Thatcher in the C-SPAN Video Library. Unlike the movie theater, or theatre, it is free.

Tony Blankley, 1948-2012

January 9, 2012

Tony Blankley, who passed away this past weekend, was a regular on C-SPAN. He had 42 appearances in the C-SPAN Video Library. He appeared as press secretary to Speaker Newt Gingrich as well as editorial editor for the Washington Times. In this memorable Sunday Washington Journal appearance with White House Press Secretary Michael McCurry, President Bill Clinton interrupted their live appearance by joining them on the C-SPAN School Bus which was originating the program live from the White House grounds. As the president enters the bus, Blankley is talking of following golf pro Arnold Palmer when Blankley was a kid.

Review Blankley’s appearances on C-SPAN through the Video Library.