-snip-The name "paleoconservative" was chosen to differentiate itself from "neoconservatism". Where the neos were (Latin for) new the paleos were old. The rift is often traced back to a dispute over the director of the National Endowment for the Humanitiesby the incoming Reagan Administration. The preferred candidate was professor Mel Bradford and he was replaced after an effective media and lobbying effort (focussing on his dislike of Abraham Lincoln) by the less experienced William Bennett. The paleoconservatives view the neoconservatives as interlopers. They furthermore tend to see the methods of the neo-conservatives as simply those of right wing Trotskyites and not more civilised Conservatives. Their view of the mainstream conservative movement is that of a self interested movement lacking the self confidence to defend its old ideas.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleoconservative
As far as being divisive, that a very good thing since the paleocons are constantly being used by liberals to discredit the conservative movement as a whole.