I saw this from the book Seventy Faces:
"Speculate on what the reactions would be to Abraham if he were to be alive today, in the 1980’s, pleading for Sodom and Gomorrah. Placards would no doubt rise on every wall of Jerusalem: “shomu shamayim al zot…”, the scandal of a purportedly Orthodox leader daring to speak out on behalf of the wicked evildoers and defying the opinions of all the “Gedolim” of our times! Emergency meetings of rabbinic organizations in New York would be convened, resulting in a statement to the press that what could one expect of a man who had stooped to a dialogue with the King of Sodom himself. Rumors would fly that the dialogue was occasioned by self-interest—the concern for his nephew Lot. American-born Neturei Karta demonstrators in Israel would parade their signs before the foreign press and TV cameras: “WASTE SODOM … NUKE GOMORRAH … ABRAHAM DOESN’T SPEAK FOR RELIGIOUS JEWRY.” Halakhic periodicals would carry editorials granting that Abraham was indeed a talmid chacham, but he has violated the principle of emunas chachamim (assumed to be the warrant for a kind of intellectual authoritarianism) by ignoring the weight of rabbinic opinion that Sodom and Gomorrah, like Amalek, must be exterminated. Indeed, what can one expect other than pernicious results from one who is well known to have flirted with Zionism…? And beyond words and demonstrations, Abraham would be physically threatened by strongmen, shaking their fists and shouting accusations of treason at him. And so on and so on."
I would respectfully argue that this a flawed analogy. It is critical to note a distinction. If Avraham would have publicly come to Sodom and said "You guys are totally OK. We live in a pluralistic society and we much leave room for different approaches and philosophies etc. etc. etc." then in fact the above description would be accurate. But Avraham was talking to HASHEM!!! What a person does in silent tfillah is never the subject of public defamation or degradation. [This point was already made by one of the קנאי הדור, the Satmar Rebbe ז"ל, who it could very well be davened for the benefit of the reshaim and practically would give loads of money to them when they were in need while his public posture was very different]. When it was necessary - Avraham could be a קנאי as evidenced by his breaking of his father's idols.
In addition, Avraham's plea was not to save the reshaim but rather not to destroy the city b/c of the Tzadikim who dwelt therein. Another critical distinction.
