Brewer, Obama speak ‘intensely’ on airport tarmac

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When President Barack Obama landed at Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport on Wednesday he probably didn’t expect Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer to welcome him by sticking her finger in his face.

According to a White House pool report, the two “spoke intensely for a few minutes” after the president walked onto the tarmac.

“He was a little disturbed about my book,” Brewer later told reporters.

In her book, “Scorpions for Breakfast,” the Arizona governor claimed that Obama had “lectured” her over immigration policy.

“I said to him, you know, I have always respected the office of the president and that the book is what the book is,” Brewer said of her encounter on the tarmac.

But MSNBC host Ed Schultz noted on Wednesday that Brewer didn’t appear to be respectful in the photo published by The Associated Press.

“I have never seen anyone, any elected official in the history of this country — unless I’m missing it — treat the president of the United States like this,” Schultz said. “She is in a position of leadership and she ought to know, at least have the brains to understand that he, too, is in a position of leadership. What a bad moment for a governor and an elected official.”

“It’s about responsibility and leadership, having respect. For her to come back and cover herself by saying, ‘Well, I really respect the office of the president,’ — no, you don’t because that’s how you treated the man who has the office of the presidency.”

Watch this video from The Associated Press, broadcast Jan. 25, 2012.