At best it's hand - waiving intended to provide a patina of authority to the otherwise thin gruel of a substantive basis for your claims. (slaw.ca)
[10] And that system often proved to be pretty thin gruel for many a new magistrate. (ontariocourts.ca)
The site's raison d'être is to highlight incumbent Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer's upbraiding of an Army general for repeatedly referring to her by the female honorific rather than as «Senator» during a hearing — pretty thin gruel for a scandal, though not Boxer's best moment as an elected official. (epolitics.com)