WASHINGTON ¨C He¡¯s been called Darth Vader, feared or derided as a trigger-happy, torture-loving puppet master who called the shots over the eight years of the George W. Bush presidency. And now, with the publication of his memoir, ¡°In My Time,¡± Dick Cheney has once again grabbed the media spotlight. But what about the former vice president is real, exaggerated or outright myth?
? Dick Cheney ran the Bush administration.
Even before the Bush presidency started, conventional wisdom held that the real locus of power would be with the vice president. A few days after the Supreme Court decided Bush vs. Gore, a ¡°Saturday Night Live¡± skit featured Will Ferrell as Bush, lamenting that ¡°Dick Cheney¡¯s going to be one tough boss.¡±
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