President Barack Obama said today he was not embarrassed by remarks made in Chicago and unintentionally released to the media in which he called some government workers “slugs” and said he told Republicans: “You think we’re stupid?”

The remarks, made at a Thursday night fundraiser at MK Chicago restaurant, came after reporters had been escorted from the room. But the comments were piped back to the White House press room, where a couple of reporters heard them and took notes.

The disclosure had some White House officials a bit red-faced, but when the president returned to Washington he said that his private remarks reflected what he has said in public, and that he is not embarrassed about anything he said.

Wire reports and Twitter updates of Obama's remarks show the president in casual mode, a rare thing to slip through his highly disciplined and scripted operation.

According to veteran newsman Mark Knoller, of CBS radio, Obama ridiculed GOP efforts to whittle away at health care reform “by nickel-and-diming me in the budget.”