That's what discredits Arrington for you? How about the way he pimps the startups he invests in a la Seesmic video comments? All the same, I still read and enjoy his site.
"Just by its nature, SEO is bad" This statement is ridiculous. You are a fool is you don't do everything you can to rank for relevant terms. This is the best, most targeted traffic you can get. Gaming the engines is bad, but not trying to rank in them is idiocy.