GOP co-opts Obama’s Twitter campaign

Conservatives took up another White House social media campaign on Tuesday, with House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and several others co-opting the hashtag #passthebill for a purpose other than President Obama’s ongoing campaign to pressure Congress to vote on the American Jobs Act.

The Obama campaign on Tuesday launched the “Tweet for Jobs” campaign which connected users directly to their representatives via Twitter. The campaign tweeted that it was “a new tool to help you urge your Republican legislators to #passthebill.” Many of Obama’s followers did just that on Tuesday, using the hashtag to tweet their lawmakers to either pass or not pass the legislation.

However, several Republicans took up the hashtag as well.

{mosads}Boehner tweeted: “President Obama demands Congress #passthebill, ignores @SenateDems’ opposition to the bill.”

Rep. Diane Black (R-Tenn.) and several other Republicans tweeted: “Let’s pass a balanced budget amendment and end the era where we just #PassTheBill on to our kids and grandkids.”

The move was reminiscent of another social media campaign launched by Obama’s re-election campaign. Last month, the campaign promoted the hashtag #AttackWatch as a way to “report” criticism and misinformation about the president.

The move backfired when conservatives started promoting criticism of the president using the hashtag.

–This post was updated at 10:58 a.m. Oct. 5.