A compliment for 'Darth' Cheney?

Name-calling has long been standard fare in politics. And politicians are called names far worse than "Darth Vader," the role in which Sen. Hillary Clinton cast Vice President Dick Cheney last week.

The Democratic presidential front-runner drew laughs at a New York campaign fund-raiser with: "Vice President Cheney came up to see the Republicans yesterday. You can always tell when the Republicans are getting restless, because the vice president's motorcade pulls into the Capitol, and Darth Vader emerges."

The vice president likely took that as a compliment. In June 2006, he called himself the same name, telling CNN of America's vigorous pursuit of intelligence in this terror era:

"It means we need to be able to go after and capture or kill those people who are trying to kill Americans. That's not a pleasant business. It's a very serious business. And I suppose, sometimes, people look at my demeanor and say, well, he's the Darth Vader of the administration."

Though the Darth Vader of the Empire administration is a ruthless tyrant, we learn in a stunning "The Empire Strikes Back" twist that he's also Luke Skywalker's father. Bad guy Darth Vader ultimately transforms back into good guy Anakin Skywalker in "Return of the Jedi," turning on the emperor to save Luke.

So remember, in politics as in art, initially perceived villains and heroes aren't always what they seem — and neither are initially perceived insults.