“You’re Not #1.” “We Are.” “No You’re Not”

David Gregory, “an albatross around the neck of our friend Brian Williams, faced some awkward questions from Don Imus this morning.

Imus asked: “As the chief White House correspondent for NBC News, do you feel in any way responsible for the demise of NBC News and the surge of ABC News and that Charles Gibson now is #1 and you guys are not, you’re #2. Do you think any of that is your fault?”

After making an unrelated joke, Gregory said he disagreed with the premise. “There is no demise at NBC News. We’re in a competitive environment but I think we’re doing just fine,” he said.

“You’re not #1,” Imus shot back. Gregory tried to answer: “We are #1 if you look at–” prompting Imus to say “no you’re not.”

“Look, this is a competitive environment for Nightly News,” Gregory said, “but I think Brian and Alex Wallace, our new executive producer, will focus on… doing what we’ve been doing and doing it well and we’re going to be fine.”