In “The GOP’s Very Rapid Response Team,” the New York Times highlighted yesterday’s effort by Republican lawmakers, staff, and activists to co-opt President Obama’s latest campaign-style slogan – “we can’t wait” – and urge Senate Democrats to stop delaying action on House-passed jobs bills. Here was some of the other coverage:

• Republicans respond to new Obama slogan, ‘We can’t wait,’ on Twitter: “House Speaker John Boehner, one of the main instigators of a Republican takeover of an Obama hashtag at the president’s Twitter Town Hall this summer, said, ‘#WeCantWait for POTUS & Democrats to work [with] Republicans to find common ground #4jobs.’  During Obama’s Twitter Town Hall in May — with the hashtag designation #AskObama — Boehner, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and Rep. Paul Ryan lead a GOP campaign that flooded the town hall hashtag with questions about jobs, the budget and the deficit.” (Daily Caller, 10/24/11)

• Republicans co-opt Obama Twitter hashtag to attack economic record: “Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) used the #WeCantWait tag to criticize Senate Democrats for not taking up House-passed jobs bills. He tweeted, ‘#WeCantWait for Senate Democrats to approve more than a dozen House-passed bills #4jobs.’ ... Other Republican lawmakers joined Boehner's efforts on Twitter to encourage Senate Democrats to take up the measures.” (The Hill, 10/24/11)

• Republicans, Conservatives Co-Opt #WeCantWait On Twitter: “Republicans don’t have the White House’s megaphone, but give them credit for creativity. They’ve co-opted President Obama’s new jobs mantra, ‘We Can’t Wait,’ and turned it around on Democrats. On Twitter.” (TPM, 10/24/11)

Many of the Tweets linked to the GOP jobs plan and the jobs bill tracker set up by Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s (R-VA) office. For example, Leader Cantor’s press staff Tweeted, “The House has passed 15 bipartisan jobs bills & will vote on 2 more #jobs bills this week #WeCantWait ow.ly/77iqA #forgotten15.”

According to the New York Times, digital media “became the Republicans’ main messaging tool” in recent years after Speaker Boehner encouraged his colleagues “to ‘think about the potential of new media.’” Today, “Republican House members have more than twice as many followers as their Democratic counterparts — about 1.3 million versus roughly 600,000 — and are far more active on Twitter with more than 157,000 individual Twitter messages, versus roughly 62,000 for Democrats.”

But Republicans are using digital tools for more than promoting their Plan for America’s Job Creators. The new House majority is also keeping its pledge to make Congress more open and accessible by streaming video live to mobile devices, publishing House floor and legislative data in machine-readable formats like XML, and more. Check out some of these recent and ongoing efforts here:

- House Floor Now Streams to Your Mobile Device via HouseLive.gov
- #FollowFriday: Where to Connect with the House & Track GOP Jobs Plan
- Open House: Updated Clerk Website Offers Better Access to Real-Time Info
- “Most Digitally Inclined Congress in U.S. History” Opens Doors to Skype, ooVoo
- Keeping the Pledge: New Majority to Make Legislative Data More Open, Accessible