Jan Brewer gets an earful from Obama in Ariz.

President Obama talks with Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer after arriving at Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport, Jan. 25, 2012, in Mesa, Ariz. / AP

Updated at 7:05 a.m. Eastern

MESA, Ariz. - Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer came to greet President Obama upon his arrival outside Phoenix Wednesday. What she got was a critique. Of her book.

The two leaders could be seen engaged in an intense conversation at the base of Air Force One's steps. Both could be seen smiling, but speaking at the same time.

Asked moments later what the conversation was about, Brewer, a Republican, said, "He was a little disturbed about my book."

"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 recently published a book, "Scorpions for Breakfast," something of a memoir of her years growing up, and defends her signing of Arizona's controversial law cracking down on illegal immigrants, which Obama opposes.

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer points during an intense conversation with President Obama after he arrived at Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport, Jan. 25, 2012, in Mesa, Ariz.

/ AP

CBS News chief White House correspondent Norah O'Donnell reports it was the body language from their chat which has tongues in Washington wagging.

Brewer got right to the point - pointing her finger at the president on the airport tarmac during their exchange.

"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."

However, O'Donnell says Brewer took a different tack during an appearance on Fox News' "On the Record" with Greta van Susteren, saying she couldn't understand why Obama was surprised by her book, and calling him "very thin-skinned."

Obama was objecting to Brewer's description of a meeting he and Brewer had at the White House, where she described Obama as lecturing her. In an interview in November Brewer described two tense meetings. The first took place before his commencement address at Arizona State University. "He did blow me off at ASU," she said in the television interview in November.

She also described meeting the president at the White House in 2010 to talk about immigration. "I felt a little bit like I was being lectured to, and I was a little kid in a classroom, if you will, and he was this wise professor and I was this little kid, and this little kid knows what the problem is and I felt minimized to say the least."

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On the tarmac Wednesday, Brewer handed Obama an envelope with a handwritten invitation to return to Arizona to meet her for lunch and to join her for a visit to the border.

"I said to him, you know, I have always respected the office of the president and that the book is what the book is," she told reporters Wednesday. She said Obama complained that she described him as not treating her cordially.

"I said that I was sorry that he felt that way. Anyway, we're glad he's here, and we'll regroup."

A White House official said Brewer handed Obama a letter and said she was inviting him to meet with her. The official said Obama told her he would be glad to meet with her again. The official said Obama did note that after their last meeting, which the official described as a cordial discussion in the Oval Office, the governor inaccurately described the meeting in her book. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to describe a private conversation between the president and the governor.

[js2212]

You all realize don't you that Obama, or any president, really has nothing to do with deportations. Also, deportations have increased every year - so next year, whoever is president will naturally deport more illegals than any president before him - maybe it'll be Obama, maybe it won't.

Arizona's beef is that, after pleading for help with the border crossings, they got the cold shoulder from the feds. So they decided to do something about it. And it worked - they sure got everyone's attention.

I notice none of you acknowledge the fact that a porous border means that not only illegals looking for work are coming through but others are too - and their intentions are not as benign. What's everyone's problem with shoring up border security?

[js2212]

Interesting. Especially so since border incursions continue unabated here in San Diego. Don't know where you live, but it's obviously not near the border. I can see Mexico from where I live. Don't drink too much Koolaid while you're reading biased media reports.

[js2212]

Nothing but my own eyes and actual intelligence. you only seem to have the ability to regurgitate info-bytes that you hear which fit your skewed view of reality.

[roncee1]

"First, if Brewer's account of the incident is accurate, why did Obama bring the book up?"

Exactly, the tarmac was neither the time nor place for such conversation. Perhaps he should have read her handwritten letter to find out the spirit in which the governor was welcoming him to the State of Arizona. He only enforced the comments in her book. What a boor!

http://www.domasjefferson.com/news/exclusive-arizona-governor-jan-brewers-hand-written-letter-to-president-obama

[jwilsonte]

I have lived in az. they are some nasty people and they have a gov. to represent the nasty people they are..

[karlimhof]

Brewer is dirty-dish blonde harpie.
like the idiot yelling at POTUS during the congressional address, she, shows her dislike of the man by disrespecting the office and therefore the country.

[karlejohn]

Brewer, "I am not a witch!"

[credibility2]

...only now are many using the word respect as it relates to our current president...yet, the same word was never used where our former president was concerned during both of his terms...the media, the Dem party and their supporters were vicious, ruthless and unrelenting in their disdain and ugliness towards the former president...

[Marie-Ree2]

Just like a typical republican chanting the name of REAGAN at every opportunity like mediums at a seance! Wake up - HE IS NOT JESUS AND HE IS NOT COMING BACK!!!

[Marie-Ree2]

No, people like you are the cancer, eating away at public memory. Are you so stupid that you don't remember BUSH Jr and Sr!! You probably don't since all that people like you can remember is REAGAN since republicans chant his name at every opportunity like mediums at a seance!

[Red_Beagle]

She looks like a nappy headed hoe.

[CNH]

Brewer claimed Obama was abrasive, rude, and thin-skinned ... all video and eye-witness evidence to the contrary. Methinks she is projecting.

Then she claimed that she felt "threatened" by Obama. Seriously?
White female governor feels threatened by tall, uppity black POTUS. News at 11.

Brewer is just trying to rationalize her irrational, disrespectful behavior to save face. Her core supporters will no doubt be aroused by her stunt, but the vast majority of her constituents are most likely ashamed of their governor right now.