Our friend Bob Robb of the Arizona Republic says they do:

When John McCain brokered a bipartisan compromise among seven Republican and seven Democratic senators to avoid a showdown over the filibustering of judicial nominees, conservatives flamed him. [snip]

The deal cleared the way for the relatively easy confirmation of John Roberts and Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court. Roberts wasn’t filibustered and the Democrats could only scare up 25 votes to filibuster Alito.

There was another benefit to the “Gang of 14” deal that I didn’t anticipate. By making conservatism itself not a disqualifying condition and giving some degree of Democratic acquiescence, the deal gave pro-choice Republicans more political cover to support clearly pro-life nominees. In Alito’s case, that proved important in getting the votes for his confirmation. Only one pro-choice Republican ended up voting against him.

In reality, McCain’s compromise provided a smoother and surer route to the confirmation of conservative judges than the showdown his critics preferred. A more conservative judiciary may well prove to be the most important conservative accomplishment in the post-Reagan era. President Bush deserves the lion’s share of the credit, since he’s the one making the nominations. But McCain’s much disparaged deal paved the way.

Conservatives owe him an apology.

I'm interested to know how many out there agree with Robb (email with comments). There's been much talk about conservatives "warming" to McCain of late, so theoretically you'd expect to find a number of people who have rethought their hostility toward his leading role in the Gang of 14.

For my part, I wasn't nearly as critical of the Gang of 14 deal as some, but I did "flame" McCain at the time for "the combination of high-handed arrogance, naked ambition and all-consuming egocentricity with which he comports himself" - a criticism which, incidentally, drew a rebuke from McCain's Chief of Staff.

Notwithstanding the decent judges who were thrown under the bus as part of the deal, the Gang of 14 compromise did work out significantly better for Republicans than for Democrats in the end. That matters a great deal, and McCain does deserve a lot of credit for being part of the process that achieved those results - even if I'm still not convinced he saved the Republic from certain doom.