I don't know whether to tackle "liberal intellectual superiority" with reasoned argument or sarcasm. Such an assumption is so basically egotistical that it is repugnant to any honest intellectual, whatever their political stripe.
Aquashrimp, I doubt that any of those who post on these boards, whether liberal or conservative, could have held their own in a debate with the late William F. Buckley, Jr. His liberal intellectual peers might have disagreed with his views, but they would not have questioned his intelligence. His liberal contemporaries, however, were cut from a different bolt of cloth than many of those of my generation. The old-school liberals, for the most part, defended their views with gentlemanly discourse, and would not have been arrogant enough to assume that they, and they alone, had the intelligence to deal with knotty political, social, and economic problems.
Not so with liberals of the new persuasion. I ran full up against the elitist, intellectual mentality of modern liberalism when I entered college in the early '70s as a wet-behind-the-ears freshman. Liberal professors permeated the Social Studies departments, and lost no opportunity to belittle views of conservative students. They were possessed of considerable intellectual ability and an equally considerable naivete' about the real world, and the enormous contributions to social order inherent in traditional social, religious, economic, and political viewpoints. Like the ancient Romans, they saw themselves and their liberal compatriots as natural rulers. I found such intellectual snootiness repulsive, and haven't changed that view much in the ensuing three decades since graduation.
As to the assertion that there is bigotry in the upper levels of academia, let me state I firmly believe that that is the case. I've seen it in operation. A conservative applying for a faculty position at a major university had best keep his political beliefs a secret during his/her interview with a liberal department head. The merest whiff of conservatism during that interview is the kiss of death.
Certainly, there are still conservatives in the halls of our universities; yet, I believe that there is a concerted effort to, over time, sweep them out.