Anu informs us that A Potemkin village is, in other words, whitewash taken to the Nth degree.

Is this a common usage of the term whitewash? I can't recall hearing the term outside of sport - a whitewash being a very one-sided game, usually reflected by the scoreline. While I can see a vague similarity between the two usages, I would never have used it to mean a cover-up, ruse, or however else Anu's usage can be expressed.