It seems to be possible either way

Intentions are usually actually good. It's true people defend and attack on both avenues simultaneously to see what sticks, but the reality is usually good intentions leading to bad effects (not net effects, this is assumed to be true of all individual outcomes through the halo effect), so rhetorical moves count on the audience to assume intentions and effects are correlated while citing true and incontrovertible things about intentions or effects, depending on the side.