What everyone knows

In times of universal deceit, telling the truth will be a revolutionary act.

-- George Orwell.

I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil.

-- Alan Greenspan

... it is [Greenspan's] view on the motive for the 2003 Iraq invasion that is likely to provoke the most controversy.

-- Sunday Times,
Sep. 16, 2007

... [Greenspan's] declaration that America’s prime motive for the Iraq war was oil will set off one political storm...

-- Sunday Times,
Sep. 16, 2007

Stay tuned for White House and GOP counterinsurgency efforts that may paint Greenspan as a "disgruntled former employee" who is "motivated by politics." If unable to feasibly manage that, Greenspan will become a daft old man suffering senility in his remaining days.

Update: Oh, here's a little used one, but still effectively dismissive:

That sounds like Georgetown cocktail party analysis.
-- Tony Fratto, Whitehouse spokesman

I've long thought that that little Greenspan was nothing but a cocktail party whore. Now I know it.