Obama, Ariz. governor in heated exchange
President Obama got into a verbal dust-up with the governor of Arizona Wednesday.
Republican Jan Brewer and Mr. Obama got into a finger-pointing conversation when the president arrived in Phoenix.
She says he was upset about the description in a book she wrote of a previous conversation they'd had.
Brewer got right to the point in a conversation captured on the airport tarmac.
"We could have been talking about a million different things," Brewer told reporters. "Bottom line is that he generally wants to talk about amnesty and I want to talk about securing our border."
Brewer gets earful from Obama in Arizona
But it's Brewer's finger that has tongues wagging
"I will say that a picture is what it is," Brewer added. "I must say, I was not hostile. I was trying to be very, very gracious. I respect the office of the president, and I would never be disrespectful in that manner."
Brewer took a different tack during an appearance on Fox News' "On the Record" with Greta van Susteren.
"He immediately took umbrage if you will, with my book that I wrote, 'Scorpions for Breakfast.' And was somewhat disgruntled, if you will, about the way he was portrayed. ... I don't know why he was surprised by my book. He evidently is, and he's very thin-skinned."
The president and the governor have a history of strained relations and evolving explanations.
Brewer initially described a 2010 White House meeting with the president as "very cordial."
Yet, a year later in her book, she recalled that same meeting differently, writing: "It was as though President Obama thought he would lecture me and I would learn at his knee. He was patronizing."
Last January, the two put aside their differences at another meeting, but it doesn't look like they'll be kissing again and making up anytime soon.
"I was in the middle of a sentence and he walked away," Brewer said of the Wednesday chat.
To watch Norah O'Donnell's report on the dust-up, click on the video above.
