I just read this essay - it is focused on personal attacks and smears, not on an honest evaluation of Objectivist ideas.

Think about what these kinds of critics are saying, in essence: "If you read books containing these ideas, you will be reduced to some sort of miserable caricature."

To anyone that worries about this, I ask: do you think so little of yourself that you think that reading a few books is going to turn you into some kind of nutter? That your own reason and judgement is that powerless?

  it is focused on personal attacks and smears

That's not a fair characterization at all. Arguments which hurt your feelings aren't necessarily ad hominem.

Do you believe that the media's focus on Bill Clinton's sex life during the 1990s was anything but a smear? The Republicans wanted to win arguments on national policy not on the basis of the soundness of his policies, but on something that was not (and still is not) any of our business.