New Book Says Obama Referred to Tea Partiers With a Slang Word

Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:

Steaming Mad

President Obama is being criticized for a reference to Tea Party activists with a sexual slang word considered crude and offensive.

Author Jonathan Alter writes in his new book that President Obama said Republican opposition to the stimulus "helped create the Tea-Baggers and empowered that whole wing of the Republican Party."

FreedomWorks spokesman, Adam Brandon, said the president "should apologize for his mean-spirited and derogatory comments."

White House Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton says he has no reason to believe the quote in Alterman's book is not accurate and that the term was not meant to be derogatory in any way.

Jumping to Conclusions

Tuesday we told you about some politicians' initial reactions to the Times Square bombing attempt focusing on their belief that the attacker was home-grown or acted alone. MSNBC anchor Contessa Brewer voiced her frustration in learning the background of confessed Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad.

(BEGIN CLIP)

Contessa Brewer on 'The Stephanie Millier Show': There was part of me that was hoping this was not going to be anybody with ties to any kind of Islamic country. Because there are a lot of people who want to use terrorist intent to justify writing off people who believe in a certain way or come from certain countries or whose skin color is a certain way. I mean they use it as a justification for really outdated bigotry.

(END CLIP)

Newsbusters noted Brewer "didn't explain which ethnicity or religion she had been hoping the bomber would have been affiliated with."

Brewer responded on Facebook, saying she wasn't hoping the suspect would be a particular nationality, race, or religion, but rather that she worried people would use the information to justify bigotry.

Heavenly Picture

And finally, a heavenly picture from space.

Harvard's Chandra X-ray Observatory captured this image 17,000 light years away from earth. NASA says the bright bluish white light is a young pulsar created by the collapse of a massive star. But according to Gizmodo.com, it is actually, "God giving us a high-five. Or maybe it's God reaching for its cosmic burrito."

— Fox News Channel's Lanna Britt contributed to this report.