The White House pool report of President Obama’s arrival in Phoenix contains him having the following exchange with Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer:
President Obama arrived in Phoenix at 3:15 pm local time, finding the chilly weather of Iowa giving way to sunny skies and temperatures in the high 60s.
He stepped off Air Force One at 3:28 pm and was greeted by Gov. Jan Brewer. She handed him a handwritten letter in an envelope and they spoke intensely for a few minutes. At one point, she pointed her finger at him.
Afterwards, your pooler spoke with the governor.
“He was a little disturbed about my book, Scorpions for Breakfast. I said to him that I have all the respect in the world for the office of the president. The book is what the book is. I asked him if he read the book. He said he read the excerpt. So.”
Asked what aspect of the book disturbed him, Brewer said: “That he didn’t feel that I had treated him cordially. I said I was sorry he felt that way but I didn’t get my sentence finished. Anyway, we’re glad he’s here. I’ll regroup.”
On the letter, she said it was personal letter asking him to sit down with her to discuss the “Arizona comeback.”
She said she “reiterated an invitation that I’ve extended to him before with regards to coming to Arizona and going to the border with me.” She said she would take him to lunch.
“We’ve had a remarkable comeback here and I want to share that with him.”
She said the president brought up the book.
“I thought we probably would’ve talked about the things that were important to him and important to me, helping one another. Our country is upside down. Arizona was upside down. But we have turned it around. I know again that he loves this country and I love this country.”
Brewer is not going to Intel for the visit.
