@RAT 5
Interesting that you mention TEM. Part of TEM is the ability to handle things when they go south and that definitely includes autopilot malfunctions. For reference:
http://flightsafety.org/files/maurino.doc
TEM and CRM are, IMO, useful concepts in theory as conceptual frameworks for many of the issues under discussion here. What many posts have discussed is that they are worthless without basic airmanship skills. In other words, recognizing autopilot/autoflight malfunction as a possible threat, while not equipping pilots with the handflying skills needed to react properly to that threat is tantamount to recognizing a threat without giving pilots the skills to counteract that threat.
I'm a big believer in CRM and will defer to Al Haynes on his opinion of the concept, which is far more eloquent and rooted in experience than mine could (hopefully) ever be, though I have found over the years that CRM has made me a better pilot by giving me a concept through which I can learn even as I age. Those who point to Tenerife as the primary motivator for CRM haven't read their accident reports. UA 173 in 1978 comes to mind; there are others.
With respect to TEM, I think we have a concept that is sound in theory as a way of looking at things but which comes up short in execution. TEM should not be a mantra, it is a way of looking at risk management. Where I think things may be out of alignment is that some may be capable of reciting the concept without the skills to back it up and in that respect, you're correct, it has become a mantra rather than a conceptual framework that requires judgment and airmanship which with to back it up.