That's exactly right. I remember people used to knock Alain all the time for hitting "bum notes," especially during Smiths songs. And he often came up when people moaned about Morrissey not getting new songwriters. Well, we see now that he's consistently written outstanding tracks, in diverse styles, for Morrissey from the beginning until now (I'm not saying every single song is a masterpiece).
Jesse can obviously play and puts in a lot of effort, but...my impression is that he would play exactly the same way whether he was in his bedroom or on stage. He's the guitar equivalent of autism (no offense to anybody here with family members suffering from that condition). He's written a couple of songs I like, but is very limited.
Alain connects with the audience, looks better (also due to his interaction), is a much better songwriter (there is Definitely consensus on that) and just cool.
I've never wavered either -- there are some of us on here!
And Mikey was very good. My ideal is the original ('91) lineup plus Mikey.