Why do so many people think the ADL isn't a hate group?

Its actual history has been extremely hard to find (mostly due to the necessity of filtering out its own versions, neo-Nazi trash, and related forms of misinformation), but I just cannot understand how, besides its better PR, this group is thought by so many people to be on a level above the NAACP, B'nai B'rith (its founding organization), or the Aryan Nation..