Deserved or not isn't the issue. The issue is whether this is time to start that food-fight all over again when the party is 2 months away from an election.
The issue never died. The debate just moved from D.C. because in that corridor the bill had stalled. It was taken to home states and district, and the battle has continued raging. Currently the House of Representatives is touring the country holding town halls. So are those that voted for the amnesty bill, like the Republican Senator in idaho that recently got heckled loudly by his own constituents for supporting the amnesty bill.
But, I assure you, so long as amnesty doesn't appear close to approval in D.C., this will remain local and not cause what you fear a couple months from the election. To that end the best thing the President, McCain and pence can do is be silent and let people duke it out in their own home states.
It wasn't time 2 years ago, it wasn't time 6 years ago. Will it EVER be time to defend this country against the illegal but 'politically encouraged' invasion?