Speaking of chutzpah, former vice president Dick Cheney thinks Obama’s picks are “second-rate.”

Speaking before the Wyoming Republican Party, Cheney panned Obama’s recent picks, including new Secretary of State John Kerry, Pentagon nominee Chuck Hagel and CIA nominee John Brennan, according to a report from Associated Press.

“Frankly, what he has appointed are second-rate people,” Cheney said.

On Hagel, the former Republican senator from Nebraska, Cheney said Obama “wants to have a Republican that he can use to take the heat for what he plans to do to the Department of Defense.” Those plans, Cheney said, are to allow massive cuts to the defense budget which will hurt the United States’ military preparedness and place “limitations on future presidents.”

Cheney also blamed the administration’s policy toward the Middle East for increased turmoil in the region, citing Obama’s failure to reign in Iran’s nuclear aspirations.

Hearing Dick Cheney criticize anyone for increasing turmoil in the Middle East is like hearing an alligator complain about someone else’s table manners.  There’s nothing like a little invasion of a sovereign nation based on lies and misinformation to get folks riled up.  And when we’re talking about second-rate, who appointed Michael Brown to FEMA, Alberto Gonzales as Attorney General, and Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court?  Seriously?

He and John McCain should take a cottage by the sea together.

Via TPM.