So, as might be expected, Cheney defends the president's handling of the question, but he doesn't say very much more either way. Rather than jumping on the "comprehensive reform" bandwagon, Cheney only says that the next few years will bring us "immigration legislation"--by which he may mean something "comprehensive" or something less "comprehensive."Q Last question. Who do you blame for the defeat of the immigration reform bill? Were the conservative talk show hosts responsible for that?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Oh, I don't know that you can blame any one particular individual or group. That's a tough issue; if it was easy, it would have been solved a long time ago. The President, I thought, handled it well. I thought many members of Congress on both sides of the aisle tried to address it -- it's a serious problem; it does need to be addressed, does need to be solved. Obviously there are a lot of people out around the country who have got strong feelings on various aspects of it, and they were all heard from.
We were unable to get anything done this time around, legislatively. That doesn't mean it's dead, by any means. Still a possibility that it will -- some aspects of it may be acted upon before we leave. But one way or the other, in the next few years, we're going to have to have immigration legislation.
