"So when I got the invitation to go to Dr. Timothy…Leary's Beverly Hills house Saturday to watch him endorse [Ron] Paul for president, I was curious."

Here's a Friday pre-New Year's Fun Link: The L.A. Daily News re-posts a Sept. 28, 1988 column from Debra Saunders including the above quote. Excerpt from the time capsule:

Most Libertarians I've met agonize over whether to vote Republican or Libertarian, not wanting to help out a Democrat (even though they say there's no difference between the two).

This group consisted of Democratic Libertarians who feared lest a vote for Paul would boost Bush. At Leary's, there were anti-drug-law and civil libertarians whose main concern with the economy, like many liberals, was the economic disaster they foresaw.

Paul, himself a former Republican congressman who has written for the John Birch Society, explained, "A liberal is naturally very anti-totalitarian."

There's other stuff in there about politicized AIDS research, freezing Leary's dismembered head, and so on. The takeaway:

[I]t was a pleasure to listen to a presidential hopeful willing to tell potential supporters a string of policies he knew they'd hate. Then again, Paul wasn't looking for blind agreement, he was glad to find people who'd listen.

Whole thing here. Saunders' contemporary take on Paul here.

Reason interviewed Leary back in 1977. More stuff at our Ron Paul topic page.