President Obama is hosting a White House dinner tonight for the nation's governors, but one prominent state executive won't be there.

Arizona Republican Gov. Jan Brewer.

Brewer, whose finger-pointing confrontation with Obama last month has become a symbol for political polarization, told NBC's Meet the Press that she has prior engagements.

When NBC's David Gregory asked "are you showing disrespect for the office of the president?" Brewer replied: "Well, I hope that it isn't disrespect.

"I would not disrespect the president of the United States," Brewer said. "I have other commitments."

After the Jan. 25 incident on an airport tarmac in Phoenix, Brewer said Obama objected to her description of an earlier meeting in the Oval Office over immigration policy; the White House said Brewer distorted the details of that meeting in her book.

But the dispute lingers on, and has even been made the subject of T-shirt sales in Arizona.

Brewer told NBC she will be at the White House on Monday for a business meeting that Obama and Vice President Biden will hold with National Governors Association, in town for its annual meeting.

Tonight's Governors Dinner is "a social thing," Brewer said.

"You know," she said, "I am a governor, I've got priorities, and I will be there Monday, when we all meet and discuss policy."