AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R).
In a furious statement, Bush campaign spokeswoman Allie Brandenburger labeled the critics "sad" and "beyond craven."
"It is sad and beyond craven that liberal Democrats, aided and abetted by some in the national media, would dishonestly take Governor Bush's comments out of context in a cheap attempt to advance their political agenda in the wake of a tragedy," Brandenburger said.
Earlier in the day, Bush reacted to the Thursday shooting at an Oregon community college by questioning the need for a public-policy solution to the incident.
"I don't think more government is necessarily the answer to this," he said. "I had this challenge as governor, because, look, stuff happens, there's always a crisis. And the impulse is always to do something, and it's not necessarily the right thing to do."
The "stuff happens" portion of the quote drew attention Twitter before the full context was immediately available, spawning multiple stories blasting Bush as insensitive.
Democrats argue that the context is still unkind to Bush, given the frequency of mass shootings in the US. President Barack Obama even weighed in on the controversy at an unrelated Friday afternoon press conference.
"I think the American people should hear that and make their own judgments based on the fact that every couple months we have a mass shooting," Obama said when asked about Bush's remarks. "And they can decide whether they consider that's 'stuff happening.'"