You're disgusted by Lucas because he shows a character doing everything he could, even when he knows it's wrong, because of love? Because of the fear of being helpless in trying to save the one who represents life to him?
That's all Anakin did. I'm not justifying what he did. I'm not saying it's right what he did. It's completely pathetic. But, I understand the reasons why he did it. You seem to understand the reasons why and it doesn't fly for you. Fine. I can't change that. But, for me, it's sad what happened to this kid.
"because they ruin the perception of my three favorite movies of all time (the OT). The number one way they do this is by totally transforming the chief villain of the series; Darth Vader."
Yes. Darth Vader is changed forever. But, there's no story in the Prequels if you show Anakin as this badass Jedi warrior with an attitude and a streak of evil behind him. What's the point of telling that tale? We already know he becomes the representation of all that is evil with the Galactic Empire. You can't just show him as being always like that before he became Darth Vader.
As far as the romance goes, Anakin's side is pretty clear cut from the moment he met Padme in Episode I. That's not the issue. The issue is Padme and the fact that both of these characters are essentially novice when it comes to romance. It's awkward because of the fact that they've never done this before, on this level. Padme's the worse because it's pretty clear, she's never had a childhood. Padme's accepting of Anakin has more to do with Anakin's loss of his Mother more than it has to do with actually being in love with him. The film clearly shows she's attracted to him. But love? I wouldn't go that far. But, it's no accident that when Anakin loses him Mother, Padme is on Tatoonie. She takes her place figuratively. And when we get to the moment where Padme feels that they're not going to live through this situation, we get the confession. She's lying to herself but she doesn't know if she's going to make it either. But once she says the magic words, she can't take them back. Now, it's very clear when we get to Episode III that Padme is definitely in love with Anakin in the way Anakin is in love with her. She clearly learned to love him, in the way we categorize love, in between Episodes II and III.