I think it's interesting the way you conflate "intellectual" with "snob." None of your conservative heros are "intellectuals?" Answer carefully.
I am certain that I did not combine the two but rather used one to modify the other. An intellectual snob is quite different from an intellectual. And I did not mean to imply that Buckley WAS an intellectual snob, only that he came off as such to the general populace. I read him as well as watched him for many years. I both loved and loathed him. I loved him for his wit, his intellectual prowess and his superior (to liberalism) sense of purpose. I loathed his persona in the public square. In an Ivy League debate hall he was unmatched in modern America. As the go to guy for all things conservative? Not so much.
Let me ask you this? Did PBS replace Buckley with another conservative? (The answer is no.) Why do you imagine that is? I imagine it is because they felt no threat from him regardless of his intellectual skills. You may have a different opinion.