Nothing wrong with Surly in my eyes, it's a fairly nondescript brand of cheap, functional frames/bikes, which are exactly the attributes that attract many buyers to C&V frames. Making the brand up to be a marketing gimmick would be as foolish as whining about a post on their blog some 20 year old intern probably wrote. Their bikes have all the features their target demographic wants at the price they demand, so all the power to them.
On a somewhat related note, I toured QBP recently and was impressed by how much work they do in house on their imported bikes. When I was there I saw a batch of FS Salsas being assembled and was surprised to see every frame being hand-tuned. Their wheel building department was also impressive. I would really like to see their take on a performance-oriented steel bike, but that isn't likely considering the fredly nature of their brands.