evaluating any explanation called Occam's Razor in which the simpler of any two equally explanatory hypotheses is considered valid. It is always simpler to assume that people mean what they say and that is, most often, the correct answer. It would have been correct to take Hitler at his word in Mein Kampf. Of course, it is sometimes wrong as it appears to have been in the case of Saddam who seems to have wanted to convince his adversaries as well as his supporters that he had - or soon would have - WMD when he really didn't... Sometimes, there is no accounting for irrational stupidity
Still, my experience has been that people -even politicians - usually mean what they say.

Cheers

JohnT