Apparently Dick Cheney is taking some flak for being an American … kind of.

Cheney was making a speech at the National Press Club when someone asked about his being eighth cousins with Barack Obama. Cheney joked about that … then made a joke about his family … saying there was a Richard Cheney on his mother’s side of the family …

“So I had Cheneys on both sides of the family and we don’t even live in West Virginia,” Cheney quipped.

Of course, West Virginian’s are upset about it … cause they don’t apparently know that the rest of the country mocks them. That’s their lot in life. I mean, hell … even people from Kentucky mock West Virginians.

Anyway … I’m not a Dick Cheney fan, but cut the guy some slack. He tries to act HUMAN and this is the reaction? No wonder politicians never say anything of substance …