the Sith Rule of Two Is Stupid

[Temis the Vorta]

I love the Rule of Two. The idea that essential two individuals (okay, really a handful of Sith Lords from Palpatine to Vader) took down the whole Jedi Order was pretty sweet. By having just two operating at any one time it forces them to rely on something besides brute strength, it encourages guile and cunning, etc.

I'd love it even more if the Sith were depicted as mega-smart and canny, so that it's plausible they'd out-think the Jedi all put together, as opposed to the Jedi being depicted as having the collective intelligence of a soap dish.

Complacent Jedi, that's an interesting angle. Maybe the Sith culture being at each others' throats is deliberate, to keep 'em sharp? If so, I'd like some on-screen confirmation, which of course there's never been a whiff of. The Sith just come off as utterly dysfunctional, yet they beat the Jedi, why? Because the Jedi are even more dysfunctional. Sheesh.

 

[Set Harth]

Maybe the Sith culture being at each others' throats is deliberate, to keep 'em sharp?

That is the case in EU.

 

[Guy Gardener]

I hate it.

I wish the enemy army in the prequel trilogy had been an ARMY OF SITH instead of the stupid Trade Federation and Seperatists.

My vote would have been for Maladorian Super-Commandos.

 

[6079SmithW]

If you are the only Sith left in the galaxy what's the point of that?

If Sith are driven by total selfishness, then why would they care what happens after they're dead? Yeah the more we delve into it, the less sense it makes. An occupational hazard when dealing with all that Force jazz.

The only thing a sith cares about more then themselves is hating the Jedi. Therefore, you'd want an apprentice to carry on that hate so it won't be forgotten after you're dead and gone.

 

[Admiral_Young]

Sith also have a huge ego which was what I was the point I was trying to make a point of earlier.

 

[DarKush]

I love the Rule of Two. The idea that essential two individuals (okay, really a handful of Sith Lords from Palpatine to Vader) took down the whole Jedi Order was pretty sweet. By having just two operating at any one time it forces them to rely on something besides brute strength, it encourages guile and cunning, etc.

I'd love it even more if the Sith were depicted as mega-smart and canny, so that it's plausible they'd out-think the Jedi all put together, as opposed to the Jedi being depicted as having the collective intelligence of a soap dish.

Complacent Jedi, that's an interesting angle. Maybe the Sith culture being at each others' throats is deliberate, to keep 'em sharp? If so, I'd like some on-screen confirmation, which of course there's never been a whiff of. The Sith just come off as utterly dysfunctional, yet they beat the Jedi, why? Because the Jedi are even more dysfunctional. Sheesh.

I think Palpatine is the onscreen confirmation of Sith sharpness. He hid in plain sight, the #1 Sith Lord, was meeting with the Jedi leadership almost daily and they couldn't sense any of his darkness, or at least his real darkness. He manipulated and played on the fears and greed of many to turn the citizens of the Republic against themselves, or at least to help it along, and the Jedi fell into his trap, leading their future executioners into battle. Regarding being at each other's throats, you got that with Anakin early on declaring his desire to overthrow Palpatine in ROTS and then again in ESB. The 'Tale of Plagueis the Wise', that Palpatine told Anakin is another example. On TCW, we recently got Dooku enjoining Savage to join him in overthrowing Sidious. It seems the only loyal onscreen Sith was Maul, but we saw so little of him. If GL actually resurrects him we might see he has his own plans to become the Sith Master. But I think the EU provides a much better picture of Sith history and culture. Some of it is cartoonish, some is pretty well done IMO.

Regarding Jedi complacency...I don't gush over SW author Matthew Stover but one of the cool things about his novelization of ROTS was how he had Yoda realize during his battle with Palpatine how the Sith had evolved and how the Jedi had not. It had been one of the things that prompted him to run away instead of continuing the fight. The Sith had evolved, the Jedi had fallen behind, had grown soft and allowed the Republic to become so corrupt and a breeding ground for the kind of decay the Sith could exploit.

I do think the Jedi had become complacent. I mean, they hadn't faced a major threat in like a 1,000 years, and they had become so detached, so removed, so cloistered in their tower, that they were blind to the Republic's corruption and the growing disatisfaction among many of the populace. They had latched themselves to the Senate and to some extent wound up in the pocket of the Senate. It's interesting how many of them just signed on to the war, as generals no less, without a second's thought. What happened to all that jazz about not being soldiers?

The comics approached this idea a little more intelligently than the movies did. In some of the early Clone War stuff, from what I recall, there was some debate among the Jedi. And in the KOTOR comics there was more debate about the role of the Jedi in the enveloping Mandalorian War of that time.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Ego?

So every one who has every sought out political or absolute power is Sith?

 

[Temis the Vorta]

I think Palpatine is the onscreen confirmation of Sith sharpness.

But we don't actually see him do anything all that clever (nothing that made me sit up and say, "wow, that's one smart guy!!!"), which doesn't make him look smart so much as it makes his enemies look stupid.

The way Palps waltzed around smack in front of everyone for years and nobody got a clue until it was too late is a major reason why to me the Jedi and especially Anakin come off very badly in the PT. They just seem like sitting ducks. Anybody could have taken them down. By the end, I felt total indifference to the extermination of the Jedi and Anakin becoming BBQ. It just seemed like they deserved it.

A well-written story, with smart Jedi outmaneuvered by diabolically clever Palps, would have made me sad to see the noble Jedi brought low, despite all their competent efforts to avoid disaster, and especially sad about Anakin, who was such a likeable and tragic figure. Lucas didn't even get within twelve parsecs of eliciting that reaction.

And keep in mind, there's a difference between a character being written as genuinely clever, and a writer arranging things so that a character will win, regardless of how clever he is. Having the Jedi discover clones waiting for them to use in their army, and not stopping to think "is there something fishy about this?" or "we'd love to use these clones, but it's immoral, so we'll have to pass" is not Palps being clever, it's Palps benefitting from a writer who wants him to win.

I don't gush over SW author Matthew Stover but one of the cool things about his novelization of ROTS was how he had Yoda realize during his battle with Palpatine how the Sith had evolved and how the Jedi had not.

There's a kernel of a good idea in there, but I don't count anything that happens in EU to give credit to the PT. If that idea was an essential part of the movies, it should have been in the movies. I wouldn't mind it in TCW, though, and if it got into the TV show at least the overall canon story could get credit for it, even if the movies never will.

And it's just a kernel. That idea needs fuller development. How have the Sith evolved and how will it be displayed in the characterization of Sidious, Dooku or Vader, none of which seem very evolved, probably because their characterization has been too paper-thin for them to convey much of anything but bwah hah hah-ing, fist shaking, and power mongering of the most crude and basic sort.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

If you are the only Sith left in the galaxy what's the point of that?

If Sith are driven by total selfishness, then why would they care what happens after they're dead? Yeah the more we delve into it, the less sense it makes. An occupational hazard when dealing with all that Force jazz.

The only thing a sith cares about more then themselves is hating the Jedi. Therefore, you'd want an apprentice to carry on that hate so it won't be forgotten after you're dead and gone.

If their hatred of the Jedi exceeds their selfishness, and assuming they have any brains and strategic ability at all, then why don't they squelch their selfishness long enough to assemble into groups and thereby be more effective in fighting the Jedi?

The Sith philosophy makes sense only if selfishness is at the top of their value system, and supercedes all other considerations, including effectiveness. They allow selfishness to deliberately inhibit their ability to construct a functional system that could make them more effective in every way.

Power is not a zero-sum game. A Sith could collect a gang of, say, 12 Sith, share power equally, and end up with more power than he could get on his own, even if it were only 1/12 of the total power that the group has.

All of human history is based on the idea that by organizing themselves into groups, humans can get more goodies - safety, power, money, food, etc - than they could individually, even if they have to share with the group. If this were not true, we would still be living in tribes of about a dozen people, and there would be no cities, nations, organizations, corporations, etc. Our only basis for organization would be genetic - to help those genetically similar enough to us that it made sense to sacrifice to pass on the genes that we share with them.

The ground rules are not different for the Sith, so why are they going against the very nature of a social species? And regardless of what species they come from, we know they are all social species, because they couldn't have space travel otherwise. If there is a truly non-social intelligent species depicted in the Star Wars universe, I haven't run across in (in movies or TV).

 

[sonak]

I totally agree TTV on that post. The portrayal of the PT Jedi was a HUGE disappointment. They are incompetent to the point of being clownish. They really do nothing but play into Palpy's hands through the first two movies and then belatedly try to make up for it a little in ROTS but do so through incredibly stupid ways.

I keep hearing the same thing from SW fans about how "clever and brilliant" Palpatine is in the prequels and I just don't see it. His plans and manipulation are blindingly obvious, he just has the good fortune to have idiots as his opponents.

 

[sonak]

If Sith are driven by total selfishness, then why would they care what happens after they're dead? Yeah the more we delve into it, the less sense it makes. An occupational hazard when dealing with all that Force jazz.

The only thing a sith cares about more then themselves is hating the Jedi. Therefore, you'd want an apprentice to carry on that hate so it won't be forgotten after you're dead and gone.

If their hatred of the Jedi exceeds their selfishness, and assuming they have any brains and strategic ability at all, then why don't they squelch their selfishness long enough to assemble into groups and thereby be more effective in fighting the Jedi?

The Sith philosophy makes sense only if selfishness is at the top of their value system, and supercedes all other considerations, including effectiveness. They allow selfishness to deliberately inhibit their ability to construct a functional system that could make them more effective in every way.

Power is not a zero-sum game. A Sith could collect a gang of, say, 12 Sith, share power equally, and end up with more power than he could get on his own, even if it were only 1/12 of the total power that the group has.

All of human history is based on the idea that by organizing themselves into groups, humans can get more goodies - safety, power, money, food, etc - than they could individually, even if they have to share with the group. If this were not true, we would still be living in tribes of about a dozen people, and there would be no cities, nations, organizations, corporations, etc. Our only basis for organization would be genetic - to help those genetically similar enough to us that it made sense to sacrifice to pass on the genes that we share with them.

The ground rules are not different for the Sith, so why are they going against the very nature of a social species? And regardless of what species they come from, we know they are all social species, because they couldn't have space travel otherwise. If there is a truly non-social intelligent species depicted in the Star Wars universe, I haven't run across in (in movies or TV).

Right, they're basically selfish and ambitious to the point of self-destructiveness, which is just silly.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Here are a couple other points that mystified me - again, from the movies. If the novels explain things better, that's great but unless TCW takes up those plot points, they're not going to count

He manipulated and played on the fears and greed of many to turn the citizens of the Republic against themselves

How exactly did that undermine the Jedi? I don't recall the "citizens of the Republic" being depicted in any significant way in the story. And even if Palps were using demagoguery to enhance his position, why weren't the Jedi politically savvy enough to see that and realize he was up to no good (at least politically, even if they didn't suspect he was a Sith)? At the very least, can't they have their friends in the Senate report what is going on?

Palps can't manipulate public opinion without being, well, public about it. Are the Jedi such political neophytes that they aren't keeping tabs on these things? If Palps is bribing Senators to vote in his favor and spreading lies among the population, it's inexcusable that the Jedi don't know about it. Stuff like that can't be kept secret from competent powerbrokers who know what they're doing.

the Jedi fell into his trap, leading their future executioners into battle

Since they countenanced the grossly immoral practice of breeding sentient beings as cannon fodder, they deserved to be shot in the back. The clones would have been justified doing that just out of revenge for their treatment, nevermind the brainwashing.

The fundamental problem is that Lucas doesn't know how to write either psychology or politics in a convincing manner. The psychology and politics of the OT were very thin, so it wasn't a big problem for those movies. I'm not sure if you can write Anakin's fall with no reference to psychology, but you could certainly avoid the politics, and if Lucas really insisted on writing the PT himself, it would have been better if he'd tried to avoid both, and make the whole thing just a mystical fairy tale with a lot of made-up rules that had no reference to the real world and therefore wouldn't seem so howlingly fake.

The reason that TCW is so much better than the PT is that apparently there are people working on TCW that have a much better grasp on how to tackle psychology and politics, which is fun. I have no objection to Star Wars branching out into more substantial things, as long as someone is writing it who can pull it off competently.

 

[fett51]

A well-written story, with smart Jedi outmaneuvered by diabolically clever Palps, would have made me sad to see the noble Jedi brought low, despite all their competent efforts to avoid disaster, and especially sad about Anakin, who was such a likeable and tragic figure.

So Lucas had a good idea and executed it horribly because he can't write? That pretty much sums up the entire PT doesn't it?

If their hatred of the Jedi exceeds their selfishness, and assuming they have any brains and strategic ability at all, then why don't they squelch their selfishness long enough to assemble into groups and thereby be more effective in fighting the Jedi?

EU-wise, they did. They almost exterminated the entire Order at one point. Problem is, as soon as the Jedi LOOK beat, they turn on each other which enables the Jedi to come back later and defeat the weakened Sith. Bane sought to end the cycle by eliminating the internal strife, and the limited numbers means the Sith have to eliminate the Jedi via stealth and manipulation rather than by direct conflict. In essence, he realized the Sith philosophy's limitations and shifted his strategy accordingly.

And even if Palps were using demagoguery to enhance his position, why weren't the Jedi politically savvy enough to see that and realize he was up to no good (at least politically, even if they didn't suspect he was a Sith)? At the very least, can't they have their friends in the Senate report what is going on?

Clone Wars actually answers this somewhat. There was a billboard of Palpatine in Lightsaber Lost and the Zillo episodes that was saying "I have no doubt the Jedi are doing their very best to ensure the safety of every citizen in the Republic. The accusations that the Jedi created the Clone War to give themselves more power over the government is absurd, and I will not stand for it." I'm sure you can think of examples of real life politicians pulling the same thing

 

[Temis the Vorta]

So Lucas had a good idea and executed it horribly because he can't write? That pretty much sums up the entire PT doesn't it?

I can't tell if he even had good ideas in that mess! If we believe that TCW is an attempt to convey the same ideas, but more competently, then yes, Lucas had some very good ideas.

But I'm not sure I quite believe that basic ideas aren't also being re-written. Was Anakin really supposed to be how we're seeing him in TCW all along? Then why put so much effort into depicting the trauma of separation from Mom? TCW Anakin doesn't even need Mom in his backstory for him to make sense as a character.

Clone Wars actually answers this somewhat. There was a billboard of Palpatine in Lightsaber Lost and the Zillo episodes that was saying "I have no doubt the Jedi are doing their very best to ensure the safety of every citizen in the Republic. The accusations that the Jedi created the Clone War to give themselves more power over the government is absurd, and I will not stand for it." I'm sure you can think of examples of real life politicians pulling the same thing

Sure, stupid people would buy it, but I can't think of anyone with any intelligence falling for crap that hilariously blatant, and generally when you get up the ranks of power, you find people who are a good deal savvier than the common herd. Why didn't the Jedi take one look at that billboard and go, "uh oh..." They must be political naifs! Or how about Padme or Bail Organa clueing them in? I cannot believe for one iota of a second that Bail wouldn't see right through that self-serving BS. Imagine how long Palps must have been pulling that stuff?

But I think I've just figured out what the Jedi's problem is. They aren't like normal powerful people, who have to scramble and claw their way to the top by being savvier, smarter and more ruthless that everyone else. They're just born into power, they never have to earn their place at the top of the heap! So of course they're stupid and naive! The Jedi should make their padawans put down their damn lightsabers and go live by their wits on the street for a year or two, without using the Force or anything else to give them a leg up. That would sure open their eyes.

And let's look at the non-Jedi power brokers - they seem to all come from some kind of hereditary elite, with queens and dukes and whatnot. More people who never had to scramble and claw their way to the top, which means they have the political instincts of a newborn kitten.

The Sith may be the only organization in the Star Wars universe built on meritocracy! No wonder they wiped the deck with everyone else.

 

[fett51]

Was Anakin really supposed to be how we're seeing him in TCW all along? Then why put so much effort into depicting the trauma of separation from Mom? TCW Anakin doesn't even need Mom in his backstory for him to make sense as a character.

Yes. Obi-wan in ANH went on about how great Anakin was during the Clone Wars, and then Lucas went and skipped over them. My understanding of why is because the films were supposed to be about how Anakin turned to the dark side. Speaking of his original ideas, I'd rather he'd have expanded on what Vader said to Luke in ESB about uniting to end the war and restore order than OMGPADME, but, yeah, bad execution.

Why didn't the Jedi take one look at that billboard and go, "uh oh..." They must be political naifs! Or how about Padme or Bail Organa clueing them in? I cannot believe for one iota of a second that Bail wouldn't see right through that self-serving BS. Imagine how long Palps must have been pulling that stuff?

RotS made it clear the Jedi were ready to overthrow Palps if he didn't relinquish his emergency powers, so we know they do figure it out, but the rest of it is a problem I have with TCW right now - we know Palpatine is turning the Republic into the Empire during this period but we're not seeing that happen. That billboard and the bit with Palpatine at the end of the last political episode have been the only two moments so far that hinted at what is really going on. The rest of the time everyone's chummy.

The Jedi should make their padawans put down their damn lightsabers and go live by their wits on the street for a year or two, without using the Force or anything else to give them a leg up. That would sure open their eyes.

Not quite that simple, the Jedi do have several thousand years of history and lifelong training to draw upon, not to mention the fact they're supposed to be excellent peacekeepers. That they allowed a galactic war to erupt I think signifies a failure on the part of Yoda and the higher ups more than it does the rank and file. The Sith if not Palps himself had to have been fomenting hate against the Republic in different parts of the galaxy for decades to get it to this point. Yoda and the council apparently didn't realize where things were headed until AotC, by which point it was already too late. DarKush said the Jedi got complacent earlier, that's as good a way of putting it as any. They pretty much proved what the Sith say about how going unchallenged makes one slow and weak.

 

[DarKush]

Ego?

So every one who has every sought out political or absolute power is Sith?

Yes.

Also, I think ego and pride plays a part perhaps in why the Sith engage in the process of joining the Sith, overcoming their master, and then taking on an apprentice and teaching them enough to take them out. In effect, a Sith Lord 'should' be happy to be taken out by the person they trained. It seems odd and in a way against the selfish indvidualism of the Sith, but at the same time, I chalk it up to them being flattered that they had a hand in making someone better than them and in adding to the legacy of the Sith. A hatred of the Jedi, Republic, etc., also seems to be a big part of many Sith's makeup.

Not ever darksider is a Sith, so it takes a special type, someone willing to abide by the strictures of the Sith Order, which includes their succession method.

 

[DarKush]

Temis,

Palpatine showed his sharpness in TPM when he manipulated Padme into calling for a vote of no confidence in Chancellor Valorum, by being the 'sensible' compromise candidate who got elected. As Sidious he worked in league with the Trade Federation to instigate the Naboo blockade that set this all in motion. He also manipulated Jar Jar Binks into calling for the Senate to give him emergency powers in AOTC. Also in AOTC, if I can recall, he suggested Obi and Anakin protect Padme, seeming to sense Anakin's attraction. From the end of TPM, Palpatine was shown as cultivating a relationship with Anakin, which paid off big time in ROTS. One of my favorite examples of this was in the CW microseries where Palpatine drives a wedge between Anakin and Obi Wan by wanting him to lead space forces against Obi's objections in the very first episode. I thought that was neat.

Also in ROTS we see snippets of Palpatine's (elaborated in the novelization) speech blaming the Jedi for their assassination attempt as he calls for the end of the Republic. ROTS also has some foreshadowing with Obi's comments about Palpatine getting into power and holding on to it, Mace wanting Palpatine to step down at war's end, of how Palpatine had extended his stay in office long beyond his expiration date. And of course there's Palpatine insisting that Anakin be on the Jedi Council, driving a big wedge between Anakin and the Jedi. He was playing them against each other.

Palpatine was also smart enough to keep enough vestiges of the Republic, an Imperial Senate. Until ANH, when he felt he no longer needed the illusion of democracy.

To some extent I think the Jedi undermined themselves, by wedding themselves too tightly to a corrupt or rotting system. The Sith evolved under Bane, as I said before going from using brute strength to far more cunning, manipulation, guile, and using others, or the very instruments/institutions of the Republic to do the job for them whereas the pre-Bane Sith would've tried to use their armies. The Banite Sith didn't provide a clear enemy to fight like their predecessors. There was no big invading army like under Naga Sadow, Exar Kun, the Sith Emperor, Kaan, etc. By the time of Sidious, the Republic was its own worst enemy in a sense. We can only speculate that the Banite Sith played a role in dividing the people here and there. Of course many of those stories have yet to be written or covered. Even the Bane trilogy was more focused on the development of the Rule of Two, his battle for survival, and then the succession with his apprentice, Darth Zannah.

 

[sonak]

Temis,

Palpatine showed his sharpness in TPM when he manipulated Padme into calling for a vote of no confidence in Chancellor Valorum, by being the 'sensible' compromise candidate who got elected. As Sidious he worked in league with the Trade Federation to instigate the Naboo blockade that set this all in motion. He also manipulated Jar Jar Binks into calling for the Senate to give him emergency powers in AOTC. Also in AOTC, if I can recall, he suggested Obi and Anakin protect Padme, seeming to sense Anakin's attraction. From the end of TPM, Palpatine was shown as cultivating a relationship with Anakin, which paid off big time in ROTS. One of my favorite examples of this was in the CW microseries where Palpatine drives a wedge between Anakin and Obi Wan by wanting him to lead space forces against Obi's objections in the very first episode. I thought that was neat.

Also in ROTS we see snippets of Palpatine's (elaborated in the novelization) speech blaming the Jedi for their assassination attempt as he calls for the end of the Republic. ROTS also has some foreshadowing with Obi's comments about Palpatine getting into power and holding on to it, Mace wanting Palpatine to step down at war's end, of how Palpatine had extended his stay in office long beyond his expiration date. And of course there's Palpatine insisting that Anakin be on the Jedi Council, driving a big wedge between Anakin and the Jedi. He was playing them against each other.

Palpatine was also smart enough to keep enough vestiges of the Republic, an Imperial Senate. Until ANH, when he felt he no longer needed the illusion of democracy.

To some extent I think the Jedi undermined themselves, by wedding themselves too tightly to a corrupt or rotting system. The Sith evolved under Bane, as I said before going from using brute strength to far more cunning, manipulation, guile, and using others, or the very instruments/institutions of the Republic to do the job for them whereas the pre-Bane Sith would've tried to use their armies. The Banite Sith didn't provide a clear enemy to fight like their predecessors. There was no big invading army like under Naga Sadow, Exar Kun, the Sith Emperor, Kaan, etc. By the time of Sidious, the Republic was its own worst enemy in a sense. We can only speculate that the Banite Sith played a role in dividing the people here and there. Of course many of those stories have yet to be written or covered. Even the Bane trilogy was more focused on the development of the Rule of Two, his battle for survival, and then the succession with his apprentice, Darth Zannah.

We're all familiar with what Palpatine's plans and manipulations are in the PT. What we're saying is that those plans and manipulations are so BLATANTLY OBVIOUS that a somewhat politically aware nine-year-old kid could've figured them out.

Palpatine is the ONLY ONE WHO BENEFITS from each "crisis" throughout the PT. That alone should've clued in the Jedi. They should've been suspicious of the suddenly discovered clone army, and not have just decided "Hey, new army to fight the Separatists with, I guess."

Dooku all but tells Obi-Wan the whole story in AOTC. The Jedi FINALLY get suspicious in ROTS, but instead of trying to gather evidence against Palpy to present to the public or the senate, they decide on a PRIVATE CONFRONTATION with Palpatine!

Not to mention countless other stupid decisions they make, like putting horny teenage Anakin as the only bodyguard for Padme in AOTC, or having an obviously conflicted Anakin spy on Palpatine in ROTS.


On a totally unrelated point, I've always found it absurd that a senator and later chancellor in a galactic republic has the time to run a government, be the driving force behind the Separatists and manipulate a war, train multiple Sith apprentices, and continue his own Sith training, and do this all without folks noticing. Politicians have pretty public schedules, how exactly does he find the time and privacy to do all of this?

 

[Silvercrest]

Ego?

So every one who has every sought out political or absolute power is Sith?

Yes.

So, Darth Nixon...?

Temis,

Palpatine showed his sharpness in TPM when he ... manipulated Jar Jar Binks into calling for the Senate to give him emergency powers in AOTC.

We're all familiar with what Palpatine's plans and manipulations are in the PT. What we're saying is that those plans and manipulations are so BLATANTLY OBVIOUS that a somewhat politically aware nine-year-old kid could've figured them out.

Exactly. To be able to manipulate Jar Jar Binks does not show us anything.

 

[fett51]

Palpatine is the ONLY ONE WHO BENEFITS from each "crisis" throughout the PT. That alone should've clued in the Jedi. They should've been suspicious of the suddenly discovered clone army, and not have just decided "Hey, new army to fight the Separatists with, I guess."

Dooku all but tells Obi-Wan the whole story in AOTC. The Jedi FINALLY get suspicious in ROTS, but instead of trying to gather evidence against Palpy to present to the public or the senate, they decide on a PRIVATE CONFRONTATION with Palpatine!

Clue them in to what? The fact he's an ambitious politician? There's no shortage of those, it's miles from being a Sith. Indeed, Obi-wan displayed wariness about Palpatine as a politician in AotC when Anakin brought him up. There's also no shortage of other beneficiaries from the war, something TCWs political episodes recently have made quite clear. Palps is manipulating the corporate bunch so he doesn't have to push his agenda directly. As for the clone army, that was supposedly was ordered by a Jedi. Bigger issue I think is who the heck paid for it.

Dooku saying what he did was obviously an attempt to throw the Jedi off that exact trail. As for why they went for a private confrontation, "Palpatine is a Sith" isn't exactly going to mean much to the general populace anymore is it?