Over at Reason, Brian Doherty gathers anecdotal evidence that Ron Paul may prove attractive to many on the Left. Unfortunately, this sounds to me like more Liberaltarian-style wishful thinking brought on by libertarian frustrations with Bush. It would be great, as Jonah has noted before, to see more liberals embrace small government. But strict, Ron Paul-style limited government is inherently contrary to the vast majority of the liberal domestic-policy agenda. When I interviewed Paul last month, he told me that he finds that most everyone is for limited government—except on one or two issues that interest them. I’d bet most of his liberal supporters fall into this category. I also suspect that liberal interest in Paul is focused mostly around his outspoken anti-war views; that’s the biggest issue for the Democratic base right now, and it’s not all that surprising that some Democrats have latched onto one of the most outspoken Republican war critics. And of course, liberals have a consistent habit of speaking fondly of conservatives and Republicans who’re out of favor with and critical of their own; this strikes me as just more of the same.