Imagine writing something like "however you feel about James Kilpatrick's views, you have to acknowledge they're in the mainstream of US politics and journalists are always targets for hate."
Or "as an important figure in our discourse, Father Coughlin is the target of much ire, but his views about Jewish people are firmly planted in the mainstream of US and UK political discourse..."
In-fucking-credible. Ben Smith is a pigfucker of the highest (lowest) order.