Limbaugh’s next foil: Colin Powell

Something tells me this one’s going to be a little different.

In recent months, Rush Limbaugh has picked fights–and won them–with a number of Republican leaders, including Michael Steele, Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.), and Gov. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.)

Now, Limbaugh has a bone to pick with Colin Powell. Speaking to a group of corporate executives Monday, Powell said Limbaugh was hurting the GOP:

“I think what Rush [Limbaugh] does as an entertainer diminishes the party and intrudes or inserts into our public life a kind of nastiness that we would be better to do without.”

Now Limbaugh is hitting back, calling Powell “just another liberal.”

“I don’t care what Colin Powell says,” Limbaugh responded on the air this afternoon. “This kind of stuff is said about me three times a day…and Colin Powell is just another liberal.”

Limbaugh brought up his earlier claim that Powell’s endorsement of Obama was about race. “He’s just mad at me because I’m the one person in the country who had the guts to explain [the endorsement],” Limbaugh said. “There can be no other explanation for it.”

Perhaps most tellingly, Limbaugh appeared to call on Powell to leave the Republican Party: “What Colin Powell needs to do is close the loop and become a Democrat.”

For some reason, I don’t see Powell apologizing anytime soon.