Depends. Smart, flexible people can get the job done with any tool as long as that tool is "good enough". However, a bad tool will cripple even a good programmer.
The Emacs/vi/IntelliJ/Eclipse/Netbeans/Kate/jEdit/TextPad debate is meaningless, because all the above choices are "good enough". However, a decent programmer's productivity will be severely hampered by Notepad. Similarly, the Rails/Django/Pylons debate is pointless, but choosing JSF can easily kill your project.
The Emacs/vi/IntelliJ/Eclipse/Netbeans/Kate/jEdit/TextPad debate is meaningless
To the extent that it becomes a religious discussion about which one is the best, which happens all the time, I think you're right. However, the exchange of ideas that results can be meaningful. This is especially true of emacs, since there's so much room to use it creatively, but is applicable to all those other editors as well.
I understand what you're saying but I think you're missing my point. If any tool was empirically "not good enough" or "crippling" it would be abandoned and the show would go on. The focus is on the end result. The SFP gets there one way or another.
Heh, you'd be surprised at how many businesses cling to crippling tools because management has made their decision and refuses to abandon it. Moreso with languages than with editors, though I know of companies that standardize on a toolset (often one that's not top-notch, though I don't know of any that would mandate something as ridiculous as Notepad) and refuse to let you use anything other than that. Sometimes customers mandate certain technology choices too - I know of one government-sponsored project where they had to use Java/EJB even though virtually every engineer in the company thought it was a terrible choice.
Many of the projects I've worked on have succeeded in spite of lousy tools, insane deadlines and other various hardships. Those experiences were the genesis of my personal philosophy that good people get the job done one way or another. Luckily the people I've worked with have all been pretty smart!
The Emacs/vi/IntelliJ/Eclipse/Netbeans/Kate/jEdit/TextPad debate is meaningless, because all the above choices are "good enough". However, a decent programmer's productivity will be severely hampered by Notepad. Similarly, the Rails/Django/Pylons debate is pointless, but choosing JSF can easily kill your project.