It’s Friday, which means it’s time to separate the chumps from the champs in Mediaite’s new “Winners and Losers” — our scorecard of who rocked and who flopped in the week’s headlines.

This week’s contenders include: Tracy Morgan, dropping F-bombs on former co-stars, Rush Limbaugh, dropped from his NFL bid, and Meghan McCain, threatening to drop Twitter. Our picks:

The Bronze Loser: Tracy Morgan

The 30 Rock star conveniently joined Twitter this week, after some urging that went viral, and just in time to promote his new autobiography I Am the New Black. But it looks like he’s found an even classier way to sell books: ripping into old colleagues! In the book, he basically calls former SNL-ers Chris Kattan and Cheri Oteri washed-up (“that bitch can’t even get arrested”), and things get even uglier in the audio-book version. Seems like someone’s 30 Rock role as a spoiled, unmanageable sketch-comedy star just might be type-casting.

The Bronze Winner: Mayor Bloomberg

The would-be mayor-for-life is having a swell week, amassing Business Week into his media empire and reconnecting with old pal-turned-rival Rudy Giuliani. But the real win came for Bloomberg Tuesday night, when he took on rival Bill Thompson in the first general election debate of the NYC mayor’s race. It was anyone’s game until Bloomberg’s masculinity prevailed in the crucial “lightning round,” when he gave the only right answer to the pivotal policy question, “Have you ever had a manicure/pedicure?” (No.)

The Silver Loser: Meghan McCain

McCain caused quite the internet stir when she posted a Twitpic of her “quiet night in.” Now she’s threatening to dump her mass Twitter following (and priceless self-promotion tool) over some cyber-insults. Okay, the “slut” stuff hurts, but come on, did she really think that pin-up pose would sit well with the Values Voters? Besides, this is politics — perhaps she’s merely needs a thicker skin (and a higher-cut top). Like they say: If you can’t stand the tweet…

The Silver Winner: Rush Limbaugh

Losing his shot at NFL ownership might have sucked, but the failed Rams bid is still a score for the talk radio host: he’s once again a victim of the left-wing conspiracy, and the right-wingers are rallying behind him! Pat Buchanan compared his bid denial to the Communist witch hunts of 1950s Hollywood. Redstate.com sympathetically declared “Tonight, we are all Rush Limbaugh.” Even CNN interrupted its Afghanistan discussion to break in with the news. The truth is, the big divisive mouth that cost Rush his football dream is the same mouth that’s made him a far-right hero. And a rich one at that. At the end of the day, he can’t really lose.

The Gold Winner: Cable News

The major broadcast outlets got taken for a helium-powered ride yesterday afternoon. All of cable news went wall-to-wall for over an hour, chasing what turned out to be an empty drifting balloon. And the whole thing might have been a ruse! But the story has a happy ending of sorts: Balloon Boy was found safe in his attic. Wife Swap got a major plug.  And because the saga was the most captivating dayside coverage we’ve seen in forever, the ratings are sure to be sky-high.

The Gold Loser: GOP.com

The Republican party took their rebranding effort viral this week, launching a revamped GOP.com. And much like the party itself, the site had some serious content and design flaws. You probably couldn’t get it to load, so here the the awesomely bad highlights: First, there’s Chairman Michael Steele‘s hip new blog, originally titled “What Up?” Then you have the “GOP Heroes” page, featuring the late great Jackie Robinson (Robinson was actually an independent who once likened appearing before a Republican National Convention to being a “Jew in Hitler’s Germany”). And the kicker? The Future of the GOP page — initially a dead link. Oh, the irony!

Last night McCain tweeted:

“I would like to thank CNN for running a special segment on my twitphoto drama, you guys are #3 in the ratings for a reason.”

And for the record, McCain has announced that she will not be quitting Twitter anytime soon. And there was much rejoicing.

She posted the most awesome picture ever of an Andy Warhol book, although I suppose the particular offense doesn’t matter much.  For quite awhile, Meghan has been a lightning rod for Twitter trolls, and as she puts it, “…what once was fun now just seems like a vessel for harassment.”

Fellow Tweeps like Jake Tapper and Hot Air’s Allahpundit offered words of support for Meghan.  As Jake pointed out, trolls are a vast minority on Twitter.  The internet cloak of anonymity that often emboldens the jerks of the internet is mitigated significantly on Twitter by the “block” button, and by Twitter’s emphasis on building a persona.  A Twitter identity is not nearly as disposable as a username at some internet forum.

On the other hand, the few trolls do tend to stick out.   One of the great things about Twitter is its egalitarianism.  Famous people and civilians are on fairly equal footing, with no velvet rope separating them.  Everybody knows it only takes one idiot to ruin a party.

There will be those who say that people in the public eye should expect this sort of thing, but on Twitter, as Courtney Love and Miley Cyrus have shown, they don’t have to stick around to put up with it.

Twitter’s setup is rather ingenious at self-policing, and Meghan McCain is a very popular presence on Twitter.  It seems likely that, if Meg hangs in there, her troll problem will eventually solve itself.

After blogging it out during her father’s campaign, Meg became a contributor to The Daily Beast, where her dating confessions, political observations, and fearless, fun-loving penchant for saying whatever she wants have made her a sensation.  Meg’s penchant for “keeping it real” has led to ruffled feathers, but has also made her a superstar on Twitter.

She recently wrapped up a stint as guest-host on “The View,” is currently working on her second book, and continues to write for The Daily Beast.

On a personal note, I’d like to add that I greatly admire Meghan for the support she has given to gay rights issues, particularly her support for The Trevor Project, and for the way she has stood up for women everywhere.  She’s not just good at being famous, but at being famous for good.

1. How do you get your first news of the day?

I go online. In the morning I get up, get coffee and get on my computer to The Daily Beast first, then Politico, Drudge Report, Fox.com, CNN.com, BBC.co.uk, Huffington Post, The Wall Street Journal.com, The National Journal’s “Hotline On Call”, Perezhilton.com, USweekly.com, People.com, and Twitter, people always send me news clips on Twitter, which I love. I like to mix it up and I want to know what is going on in news and politics but also pop culture. I also religiously read a good friend of mine – Chris Potter Stewart’s blog called MondayMorningClacker.com, it’s based out of New Hampshire and I am still so curious about New Hampshire politics and politicians visiting New Hampshire because it will be a barometer for the midterm elections. I can’t remember the last time I bought an actual, tangible, paper, newspaper – I get it all online.

2. Either, Or (you gotta pick one!):

“Baby Got Back” or “Rumpshaker?”

-Baby Got Back of course! Sir-Mix-Alot is a genius!

“F-bomb” or “S-word?”

-Ohh F-Bomb, nothing is more cathartic than dropping one.

Whiskey or tequila?

-Tequila, my new favorite kind is “Casa Noble” with a traditional Sangrita chaser like they do in Mexico. Amazing! My friends and I love to go on Saturdays to this Mexican restaurant called “Cabrito” in the West Village for tacos and tequila. It’s my favorite Mexican Restaurant in New York and that’s saying something because I am from Arizona.

Bad boys or funny guys?

-Ahhh, funny guys, bad boys break your heart and if you can make me laugh its the quickest way to get me to go on a date with you.

Alien or Aliens?

-Alien, I’m a purist!

3. What’s the biggest story the media has missed this year? (Or last week):

Afghanistan. I don’t understand why the media seems to have lost interest in what is going on over there. It’s sad when I have to talk to my brothers to hear some real insight about what’s going on in Afghanistan and an unbiased perspective from people in the military. It’s why I started reading BBC online because they cover it a lot more than in our country.

4. Obligatory Twitter Question: Describe yourself in 140 characters or less (hash tag optional!).

Boom, Boom, Pow! :-)

That’s what I would put ON TWITTER as a description of myself!

5. Are you nervous or excited about the future of Journalism? Why?

I am excited about mediums like twitter where citizen journalism is really taking a precedence over mainstream media. I am pretty much completely disillusioned with journalists after my time on the campaign and think its pretty sad if you give me a name, I can probably tell you which team the person is on. I think all of it’s bad. I tweeted a while ago that Walter Cronkite, Edward R. Murrow and Peter Jennings are probably rolling around in their graves at the state of today’s media.

See Meghan McCain on the Colbert Report here, see her not-at-all-shabby rank on the Power Grid here, her Daily Beast archive here and follow her on Twitter here.