Saga What real world dictator is Palpatine MOST like?

^Without going too far astray into a political debate I submit that you're incorrect. The bureaucracy is accountable to the elected body, which is (when properly functioning) accountable to the electorate. To the extent that the Democrats are Palpatine-ish it is because fundamentally the dominant faction of the party is made up of what are essentially Republicans who don't care who you sleep with or if you smoke pot so long as you know your place in service to the 1% and their Business interests.

This year's Democratic primary was run strictly by the Republican playbook: voter roll purges, media blackouts against any challenge to the insider-appointed nominee, various polling place tricks, and a party mechanism that had no compunctions against simply power-ruling against anyone trying to call for accountability to the actual voters.

 

I find the idea that Rubio is the Palpatine to Jeb's Plagueis amusing. The analogy is that Jeb mentored Rubio only for Rubio to run against Jeb.

 

I recommend reading at least part of this. I am not talking about the EU at all, I don't even know if the Hitler parallel continues into the EU -- simply from the films, there are a tremendous amount of parallels between the PT and the descend of Germany, and the rise of Hitler. It's huge. Order 66 just being the most obvious example (Night of the Long Knives). But it goes a lot further than that. Paper:
STAR WARS, ADOLF HITLER and WORLD WAR TWO

as well as this:

 

Palpatine was a genius, not an idiot. Nor a rabble rouser.

 

Palpatine was very much a rabble-rouser. Though much more self-aware and strategically minded than most 'real' examples tend to be. He was politically savvy and manipulative but smart enough to know a bit of tub-thumping and am-dram speechifying would play much better to the masses, whilst being much more controlled and cunning when dealing with other politicians.

Of all the real-world analogies to Palpatine the closest I can think of in (relatively) modern times is Stalin. Power through subverting/controlling political process, a war that helps cement that power, and once gained turns it into basically an autocracy. Heck, there's even the whole 'purges of military/political opponents' thing to draw on... or if you want a really tenuous connection, the bit with adopting a new name for political purposes. (Stalin was born Jughashvili, Palpatine became Sidious.)

 

The "For a Safe & Secure Society" speech did seem like "Am-dram for holos for the masses" to me.

 

Many political figures in the real world (and not all of them tyrannical/despotic types either) still use a lot of exaggerated gestures and facial expressions when giving public addresses. Obviously the most infamous example is Hitler with his arm-waving and shouting but there are plenty of more modern and more benevolent politicians who still use a downplayed version, including lots of dramatic/significant pauses you wouldn't use in regular conversation. In the UK (where I am from) at least - one (relatively) recent Prime Minister, John Major, was well known and actually derided in some quarters for NOT doing it. Though describing him as a dictator is probably overplaying it a little!

 

He dictated precisely how many peas he wunted on his plate.

 

I wonder when, if ever, GL stopped thinking of Palpatine as "Nixon." In the original version of ESB, Palpatine's voice suggests a Nixon-like character, but then ROTJ presented Palpatine as a cackling embodiment of evil. Maybe changes in American culture betwen 1980 and 1983 caused GL to rethink his inspirations? Or did McDiarmid change GL's mind with his auditions?

 

I thought GL just wanted an actor with a particular nose.

 

I wasn't talking about why McDiarmid was cast. I was talking about why Palpatine's demeanor in ROTJ is so different from his demeanor in ESB.

 

Maybe that's also to do with the compression of the story in RotJ, forcing what could have been a more subtle character (like the prequel Palpatine) into more of a fantasy villain archetype.

Also, looking at it in-universe, in ESB we only see a 1 on 1 conversation while in RotJ he's out in 'public' at least in front of the troops, and he's certainly performing with heightened emotion for Luke.

 

Palpatine is most like George Bush..... He had to have used the dark side of the force to dodge that shoe !!!!

 

I don't think he ever did. Back in 2005, when journalists were asking if Palpatine's rise & ROTS had anything to do with the George W Bush and the current Middle Eastern conflict, GL insisted that he'd always based Palpatine on Nixon, and I think the characterisation of Palpatine in ROTS is the most overt expression of this - in his speech to the Senate declaring the foundation of 'The First Galactic Empire', Ian McDiarmid seems to be drawing on a combination of Winston Churchill and Richard Nixon. Churchill for the dignity, Nixon for the sleaze, both for the over-the-top delivery, and the mannerisms appear to be a combination of both, or just drawing on those that were similar between the two. Most viewers point to Churchill, but there's just as much Nixon in there.

Palpatine referring to his 'deformed appearance' in the speech also might be a nod to Tricky Dicky, who was, allegedly, very self-conscious about his less-than-attractive looks when compared to the likes of JFK.

 

I always thought he had a lot of Abe Lincoln in him. He's doing an Honest Abe act all through the prequels. (Probably also helps that he's commanding a Grand Army of the Republic in protection of the government against a separatist Confederacy).