I didn't think it was fawning, in fact quite the opposite - that some of these details were intended ironically, and the tone of the piece was actually more negative? Did I just read what I wanted to see?
I read a few paragraphs, started skimming, and eventually gave up, maybe it was only those first few paragraphs. It just didn't seem like a meaty article to me, and if it was, it was too much work for me to get to the meat. The internet may have made me lazy.
Or maybe I read jwz too often and was pre-biased against Thiel - http://www.jwz.org/blog/2011/08/paypal-founder-has-played-fa...