With all of NBC News' execs in Beijing, David Gregory thought nobody would notice if he took off last Thursday's Race to the White House. His excuse, according to a well-placed insider: He didn't want anything to interfere with his appearance on The Daily Show. Staffers at NBC "found it incredibly bizarre" that Gregory, NBC News' chief White House correspondent, would skip out on his own show to make sure there weren't any distractions for his guest spot on Jon Stewart's show. We're told "nobody" at NBC or MSNBC has ever skipped their own show to appear on another network. (Possible, but we can't guarantee it.) And the option of pre-taping Race and then heading to Comedy Central's studio? Also not a good enough option — perhaps because Gregory thought "all of the execs are in Beijing and won't care" (not an exact quote). So, while Gregory skipped off to joke about Brett Favre with Stewart, Rachel Maddow filled in his seat at 30 Rock. And what'd Gregory ditch for? To get schooled by Stewart on the lack of "news" in "news reporting":