[quidnunc]

From Wikipedia

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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.

[mr.pink]

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.

I see it very differently. I see the neoconservatives discrediting the "conservatism movement as a whole" via their machinations and their metropolitan disdain for social conservatives. That their errand boy McCain is openly flirting with Kerry tells which way the wind is blowing for the president they snookered.

As for Lt. Col. Karen Kwiatkowski, well I read her piece where she detailed the events that caused her to distrust the neoconservatives at the pentagon and she sold me (but i never trusted those guys in the first place anyhoo). I did not see the Gibson interview, but when I have seen her I found that she comes off quite well.

The notion that paleos are supposed to apologize for being on the same side of the Iraq war debate as the swimmer is as ridiculous as pro-war conservatives being asked to feel shabby for being on the same side as Tom Lantos, Andrew Sullivan and Mort Zuckerman.

[petitfour]

Interestingly, Prof. Bradford was very dear friend of Forrest McDonald. I was too young to pay attention to all the politics of the NEH in the early 80s. The person who followed Bill Bennett? Lynne Cheney. She was chair when Forrest McDonald was awarded the Jefferson Lectureship/Lecturer.