PHOENIX (RNN) - What was meant to be a ceremonial meet and greet for local dignitaries welcoming the president to Arizona turned into a tense exchange of words on the tarmac with Gov. Jan Brewer.
A photo posted on Brewer's Facebook page shows the Republican governor pointing a finger in the face of President Barack Obama in an apparent heated conversation Wednesday.
Obama was in Arizona taking the plan he laid out in Tuesday's State of the Union address on the road.
Brewer greeted Obama as he stepped off Air Force One and handed him a letter inviting him to visit the border, but the photo op immediately turned into a confrontation.
"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 in the book," Brewer told Greta Van Susteren during Wednesday night's On the Record.
"I asked him, 'Oh you read my book?' and he said 'I read excerpts.' The bottom line is, the book is factual, the book is true."
Brewer says Obama specifically took exception with how she portrayed their 2010 White House meeting over immigration and SB 1070, Arizona's tough immigration law.
"I want our border secure, I want our nation protected. He wants amnesty and we're never going to agree on that. We agree to disagree on that subject so I don't know why he's surprised by my book. But he evidently is and he's very thin skinned in regards to it," Brewer said.
By about 1 p.m. ET on Thursday, Brewer's Facebook post about the exchange had attracted more than 13,000 comments - not all of them positive. Some called Brewer names and accused her of acting with disrespect.
Johnna Lister Pierre-Antoine wrote:
"You are a classless woman, Jan Brewer. You set a pitiful example yesterday. For someone who felt "threatened", all of the pictures show you as the person aggressively wagging a finger in the face of the POTUS. NO RESPECT. What a poor, poor example you set for other young women who would aspire to office."
Brewer did have some support, however.
"Don't worry about it Jan," wrote Mick Les Wane on her Facebook post. "He is a snobbish jerk, and don't think for a minute that he will ever go to the border with you, he knows that will show that he is wrong and he isn't man enough to accept that."
In any case, the confrontation was cut short when Obama walked away.
"I was trying to be very gracious to him and he reacted in a manner that took me back, kind of left me breathless, to tell you the truth," she told Van Susteren.
She told reporters who witnessed the conversation, "Anyway, we're glad he's here, and we'll regroup."
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Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer and President Barack Obama had a testy exchange on the tarmac Wednesday. (Source: Jan Brewer/Facebook)
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