These rants are what make him a good leader. He has a clear mission/focus of how he wants things to work, and clearly communicates when he feels things are broken.
Swearing at other people is pretty easy, and lots of people do it, yet there are few people who create and manage something like Linux. My conclusion is that the rants are not what make him a good leader. Perhaps his style is part of the equation, but it's more complex than simply being good at ranting and calling other people stupid.
