On "B" I have to say that's just character assassination and anti-intellectual character assassination at that. It's perfectly acceptable from an intellectual

On "B" I have to say that's just character assassination and anti-intellectual character assassination at that. It's perfectly acceptable from an intellectual perspective to admire some aspects of a person while disliking others. Rand's philosophy was one based around rational self interest. Rand's point seems to be that Hickman was the epitome of self interest yet was not rational (since it's not rational to turn the state against you by committing brazen crimes). So she wasn't admiring the man she was admiring one aspect of the man. Maligning a person for expressing this kind of thought is anti-intellectual because bad people do occasionally have good ideas along with their bad ones. If you're dedicated to the intellectual pursuit of broadening your mind you have to be able to identify those ideas and admire them despite the despicable nature of the person who came up with them.