Cheney: Obama Cabinet Picks 'Second Rate'

One guy not real thrilled with President Obama's second-term Cabinet picks? Dick Cheney. And the onetime veep isn't exactly being shy about it, telling a group of Wyoming Republicans last night that the president's choices for his national security team were "dismal," and that "good folks" were vital at State, Defense, and CIA. "Frankly, what he has appointed are second-rate people," said Cheney of John Kerry and John Brennan. He particularly singled out Chuck Hagel, reports the AP, saying Obama simply "wants to have a Republican that he can use to take the heat for what he plans to do to the Department of Defense."

Cheney says those plans include steep cuts in defense spending that will limit America's future ability to intervene militarily in global conflicts. "He is today establishing what limitations will be on future presidents," said Cheney, casting an eye on the Middle East and North Africa. "That part of the world is as dangerous now as it has ever been." (More Dick Cheney stories.)