What Palpatine lacked in charisma, he made up for in candor, and it was that...

What Palpatine lacked in charisma, he made up for in candor, and it was that directness that had led to his widespread appeal in the senate. Here was Palpatine, with his ready smile; above corruption, above deception or duplicity, a kind of confessor, willing to hear the most banal confessions or the basest of misdeeds without passing judgment-aloud, at any rate. For in his heart he judged the universe on his own terms, with a clear sense of right and wrong.
He looked to no other guide than himself.