Here is the quintessence of the ad hominem attack, i.e., appealing to one's emotions and prejudices rather than one's intellect. Forty years ago this is the sort of thing that would have been laughed out of the newsroom of any newspaper of quality. Today it is probably considered de rigueur at the Columbia, Missouri and Berkeley schools of journalism.
But, of course, that sort of tactic only works with emotionally immature mentalities (regardless of their "IQ"). Even if such emotionally unstable ones took a course in Critical Thinking, it wouldn't do them any good because they don't have the courage to face reality and truth - they just won't "go there".