While the president may have reflected the holiday spirit in his unusually casual attire Monday — marked by rolled-up sleeves and no tie — he was anything but casual in his tone, taking a sharp and adversarial stance toward the GOP as the November elections loom in the near future. He even went off-script at one point!

The centerpiece of the Wisconsin address was the announcement of a $50 billion infrastructure initiative, but the jabs he took at the Republican Party ended up overshadowing that news.

He called Republicans the “Party of the No,” quipping saucily: “If I said the sky was blue, they’d say no.” He repeatedly referred to House Republican leader John Boehner as “the man who wants to be speaker.” And he called out his opponents later in the speech by claiming: “We’re sweating and these guys were watching us and sipping on a Slurpee.”

Obama got so heated that he even went rogue at one point to express his displeasure with the rhetoric of his critics. “They talk about me like a dog,” the president said. “That’s not in my prepared remarks, but it’s true.” It’s unclear exactly what he meant by the “talk about me like dog” comment, but it’s safe to assume he doesn’t mean in the loving, Vincent-from-Lost way.

Obama assails GOP, promotes new jobs program [AP]

Obama Calls for $50 Billion Spending on Transportation [NYT]