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."