I would stop writing so often about the Jeb(!) Bush campaign if it would stop doing such a credible impression of a cat running into a wall. But that is what every piece of news that comes out of Jeb! HQ is like, over and over again. I got depressed just putting the metadata into this piece because all the Jeb(!) moments so far have been things like “Mom walks back initial opposition to Jeb candidacy” and “Jeb begs audience ‘Please clap.'” 
 
 “George W. Bush tries to help Jeb in S. C. Primary” reads the caption on a picture on the front page of USA Today on Tuesday. Not “helps.” Not “stumps for.” “Tries to help.” 
 
 The campaign so far is something that you could film and send in to America’s Funniest Home Videos but they would refuse to run it on the grounds that maybe it was a cry for help. 
 
 For instance, on Tuesday, Jeb! tweeted this picture of a gun with “Gov. Jeb Bush” engraved on it, with the caption “America.” 
 
 The sad news is that this gun is already polling better than Jeb! in South Carolina. 
 
 It starts with certain advantages. Consider: 
 
 This gun has not spent $14 million on ads in Iowa, only to win fewer than 6,000 votes. 
 
 This gun has not been trying to affix an ! to its name … and failing. 
 
 Donald Trump has not called this gun “low-energy” repeatedly on a debate stage. 
 
 This gun has not said “please clap” to a rally crowd, like a sad Tinkerbell partisan. 
 
 This gun has not released a video from its mother saying her son would be a wonderful president — because nothing says “I am qualified” like “Here is a video from my mom saying that she thinks I would do a good job.” Or rather, nothing says, “I am definitely not living a nightmare” like “I had to make my mother tape a video in which she walked back her earlier remarks that ‘There are other people out there that are very qualified and we’ve had enough Bushes.'” 
 
 That gun is in great shape. 
 
 In fact, the only problem voters say they have with the gun is the name on it. 

 Photo by JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images 
 
 After his strongest debate performance yet, Jeb Bush might be feeling a little more confident as he campaigns in South Carolina, compared to just a couple weeks ago when he was begging New Hampshire crowds to clap for him. Still this is a little unexpected from the mild-mannered long-shot candidate: 
 
 Bush was visiting FN Manufacturing, a firearms manufacturer in Columbia, South Carolina today, so presumably that’s where this photo was taken. 
 
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– On Tuesday, Jeb Bush tweeted a photo of a gun with his name engraved on it and the caption "America." No other explanation was given. As the Hill puts it: "The social media response was swift." Twitter users photoshopped new messages onto the gun or replaced it with pictures and GIFs they thought better illustrated the concept of "America." Others, believing it was a cry for help, urged Bush to think of all he has to live for. It also proved a handy vehicle for drawing attention to the country's serious problem with gun violence. Slate explains that Bush likely took the picture while touring a South Carolina gun manufacturer on Tuesday. But that didn't stop the Internet. "The sad news is that this gun is already polling better than Jeb! in South Carolina," writes Alexandra Petri for the Washington Post. "In fact, the only problem voters say they have with the gun is the name on it." And Slate notes the problem might be that “'America' feels a little like a hipster’s Instagram caption for his ironic trip to a firing range." Or as Edward Snowden succinctly put it: "Delete your account."