Intellectualizing?

The reason "intellectualizing," as you put it, is used is quite simply because it works--at least much of the time. If you mask your argument with ambiguities, big and less-often used words, and generally don't make it clear on what premise you're basing your assertions, it makes it awfully difficult for someone to tear the argument apart, unless they happen to have a dictionary handy, and are pretty familiar with logical fallacies.

Bush has already been mentioned, but I would like to also point him out as an example of the counterpositive of this. Whereas if you sound really slick you can actually get away with quite a bit in terms of faulty reasoning, if you are not articulate, people generally assume you're a moron, and, as I have observed numerous times in discussions about Bush, may have your opinions criticized on this point alone.

However, that said, even if you don't understand all of the vocabulary that is often thrown around by someone "intellectualizing" their way through an argument, if you have a pretty good grasp over rules of evidence and logic, you can still tear an argument to shreds.

Jam it back in, in the dark.