Xie said:
As for Palpatine befriending Anakin I believe it was souly for the purpose of making him his apprentice, as both an Ally and I believe he feared the other Jedi (ie Yoda, ect.) and felt w/out Anakin he was not a match. He could feel the power in Anakin and wanted to use it for himself (gread of the dark side). The dark side is all about power, and using whoever you need like a pawn to get it.
And yet his visions of Padme's death during child birth weren't real visions of a true future. They were concocted visions (Obi Wan wasn't even there), and in fact it was Anakin's reaction to these visions that made them come true.
Before this (and after the death of Dogul), Palpatine commented that he would have his apprentace soon. The dreams occured, Anakin reacted (to prevent it), and his reaction was the cause of her death.
Yes, power (and power for it's own sake) has very much to do with the dark side, but the schemeing and planning to get it does as well. If Palpatine could have planned all this from back at the time of the war with the Trade Federation, (not said, but not unlikely the creation of the Clone army with a dead man having given supposed "Jedi council approval" that the Council knew nothing of, to taking power in the Senate...obviously he could plan and scheme over a very long period of time. AKA, someone with the far ranging vision to know what he wants long term, the planning to make it happen, and the patience to bide his time and see it to fruition. With Anakin, he likely did much the same IMO...
Sazar said:
Lucas had to have something convenient so he showed some half-hearted clips of visions and all of a sudden BAM, he was changed.
Perhaps for this movie, but Anakin's change was longer in the making. His actions wrt the village, slaughtering the men, the children, etc weren't exactly the image of a Jedi. I'm not sure it's something Yoda or Obi Wan would have done, for instance...
His reaction (when he was retelling it) might have been an inner battle between his good side, and his dark side as well... In any case, he didn't sound pleased with himself or particularly happy about it. The idea that Anakin would have such an inner conflict isn't without plot basis either, as Luke saw the same (again Return of the Jedi), and wanted his father to let go of that darkness and come with him...
All said, how some parts transpired, it does make sense to me, on how someone who could have been essentially good by nature (to begin with) could have turned to evil...at least psychologically speaking...