Well, visiting your grandmother could be "the worst cover in the history of espionage", but we are used to be fed with tired bad covers. Like the whole hoopla

Well, visiting your grandmother could be "the worst cover in the history of espionage", but we are used to be fed with tired bad covers. Like the whole hoopla about WMD and Saddam. This means that one cannot anymore trust something that looks like a total amateur lie to NOT be a lie, thinking that "if they wanted to lie they would have found a better excuse", since they don't really seem to bother anymore. (Surprisingly, the reverse is also problematic. That is, even if the politicians bothered to only use perfectly crafted covers, then a cover such as this would be good, because of the public thinking "surely, they are not as dumb to use such a crappy cover, so it must be true" effect).