I thought the president did a pretty good job there. The Corner has the tape of the exchange between Bush and David Gregory in which Gregory tells Bush that Republicans don't trust him anymore and asks how he, the president, can still believe he's "a credible messenger on the war." Paraphrasing Bush's response: you're naive and you're lucky I'm here to protect your children.

Sounds about right to me.

Certainly the most memorable moment of the press conference has to be the president telling the Chinese people: "They need to be eating U.S. beef. It's good for them. They'll like it."

Other than that, Bush said of this country's relationship with China, "This is a complex relationship. There's areas where there's friction, and we just got to work through the friction." Of course, the average American may be a bit more hostile to China than the president. Zogby released a poll yesterday that seems to show Americans generally view China as a serious threat:

The 5,141 U.S. residents who took part in the poll were asked to rate their level of concern regarding China's military buildup, with "1" meaning "not at all concerned" and "5" representing "highly concerned."...

Some 29.7 percent of those surveyed said they were "highly concerned" over China's military buildup, while 33.1 percent gave "4" as a response. Some 24.2 percent gave "3" -- a neutral answer -- and 7.9 percent said "2." Less than 3 percent said they were "not at all concerned" about China's military growth.

64 percent of respondents gave the president poor marks for his handling of the U.S.-China relationship, but there's at least one question about that handling that Bush won't be asked anytime soon: 'Where's the beef?'