Needless to say

I love this expression: needless to say. Almost seems like it was translated with bad English. "Needless to say, the parachuting-in of Mr. Martinon has ruffled feathers". This passage was extracted from a story about Nicholas Sarkozy's rude manners in picking one of his protégés to suceed him as mayor of the rich and encrusted city of Neuilly-sur-Seine. He chose Mr. Martinon over the natural successor and favourite of his party's members: Arnaud Teullé. I can almost see the feathers floating in the air.