"Hundreds of senators are under the influence of Darth Sidious"

Thus spoke Count Dooku in his scene with Obi Wan in Atack of the Clones.

I am curious. What kind of "influence" are we talking about? Is it that Palpatine had senators in his pocket? Are we talking bribe, black mail, or a form of mental control? Or is it simply the fact that Palpatine was a very charismatic figure and he simply won everybody over?

 

Dooku was understating the facts, it was thousands.

The point is, it doesnt matter how they were influenced, they are under his control. I imagine each Senator had different weaknesses that Palps exploited. To enumerate how for each, add 2 more hours to the movie.

 

I agree with voodoopuuduu on this one: the pont really was that Palpatine had control of lots of them.. enough to make them do what he needed..

By the time Order 66 came about, the only thread that Palpatine had was the jedi: he knew he had the senate under control.

 

I think he was referring to plain ol manipulation, not any Jedi mind trick, although I'm sure he may have employed that use.

 

I would say a little of each...
mind control, manipulation, blackmail, payments, secrets, deals...

And it can even be taken quite literally, since Sids (palpatine) was the Supreme Chancelor.
So as Supreme Chance he totally has the Senators under his "influence".

Especially after Jar Jar's bright move to call for emergency powers.
The whole Galaxy was under his influence by that point

 

He had the senators in the Senate doing what he wanted of them. He got them to hand over Emergency Powers. He got them to give up all kinds of control. He got to declare himself Emperor and created the first galactic empire. He used all kinds of underhanded tricks. From bribes to blackmail to simple ego massaging

 

"I...AM...the Senate!"

Case closed.

 

I think that, like his relationship with Nute Gunray, Sidious knew how to tell his puppets what they wanted to hear. Just look at how he whispers venom to Anakin. Imagine what he was telling those greedy Senators.

 

And don't forget the way he worked Padme like a puppet in TPM in order to get elected Chancellor.

 

Indeed. Anakin was trained as a Jedi. He was supposed to be selfless and all that other Light side stuff. Yet, it didn't take much to twist him, did it? Imagine the average Senator. "You support me in exchange for say....a nice apartment in 500 Republica?" "Done and Done."

Carnage

 

Right. It's not really that difficult to understand. Palpatine is a master manipulator, on both the macro and micro levels. He can get thousands of Sentors to give him emergency powers or he could also pick any one off the street, get them to make him coffee and massage his feet (ok, ew), before they'd even realize what they were doing. It even took those closest to him, like Padme, a long time to even become remotely suspicious.

 

Right. It's not really that difficult to understand. Palpatine is a master manipulator, on both the macro and micro levels.


Yep, he was great at that. But look at the impatience of the OT Palps. He expected Luke to turn to the dark side on a dime. No smoosing or mind games. Did the Sith lightning also disfigure his brain ??

 

His overconfidence was his weakness

 

It must've been obvious to us but not to Obi Wan. He must've been thinking:
"Well how can a sith influence the Senate in such a way?"

He obviously made no conection with Palpatine.

 

It must've been obvious to us but not to Obi Wan. He must've been thinking:
"Well how can a sith influence the Senate in such a way?"


Only if he believed all Sith are Darth Maul-like, evil looking and mean spirited.

 

Just look at how he manipulated the other Senators to elect him Supreme Chancelor as a good example of what he means. He is playing a complex game of mass manipulation in which he uses fear, money, and promise of power in order to achieve his goals.

!snap

 

Obi-wan's problem isn't so much that. It's the fact that he has trouble beliving that a Sith Lord would be able to do what Sidious has allegedly done and the Jedi Council not know about it. That's what confuses him and thus causing him to distrust Dooku's claims. It isn't until he and Anakin capture Nute Gunray's holo transciever that's used to talk to Sidious, that they realize Sidious is on Coruscant. And it is Mace who discovers that Dooku is telling the truth, when he finds out that Sidious is hiding among the senators living in 500 Republica. Unfortunately, they don't consider it to be Palpatine. Rather they suspect one of his cabinet of being Sidious.

 

I think if they followed through on that plotline after the Coruscant battle it would have made things quite interesting.

 

His overconfidence is indeed his weakness. He's been near infalliable for over 20 years. So in a sense yes, the Sith have warped his brain. He hasn't been thinking like a normal scheming human, who has to act for his plans to work. He can be his full, evil self. I'm sure, in his head, he has no reason to doubt that Luke would turn so quickly. Like father, like son.

 

Anakin was raised in an environment with thousands of Jedi positively reinforcing "Light Side" behavior. To Vader and Palpatine's knowledge, Luke had trained with Obi-Wan for a few days or so. I'm sure Vader offered up an explanation of what occured at Bespin and how Luke came barging in to save his friends. He saw Vader rile him up and Luke go Anakin Vs. Dooku style on his own father. Palpatine probably thought to himself "Far too easy". Past Success + Lack of Jedi Training + Father's tendency to rush into things + Darkside rage on dad should = easy turn.

Carnage

 

Is there anything Darth Sidious can't do? He has "thousands of senators" under his control??

It just seems like the guy is completely omnipotent. Especially for someone who seemed to spend any time around the Senators. lol