I honestly thought of the Clone Wars as a battle between the folks that became the rebellion and some other entity (clones) that had absolutely nothing to do with Palpatine or what became known as the Empire.
I thought of the Clones as an extinct faction that had no relevance to the combatants in the OT. I always thought of Anakin's seduction as being completely separate from the Clone Wars. The Clones Wars, to me, was just an event that Anakin participated in and earned his notoriety.
It never once occurred to me the Clones were the good guys.