Reasoning
What must be true in order for the press secretary's premise to support the conclusion that the president's choice was not partisan politics? The passage discusses two opposing arguments: an attack by critics, and a rejoinder by the press secretary. The critics’ evidence that the president's choice was motivated by political bias is that 90 percent of the canceled projects were in opposition districts. To overcome this evidence, the press secretary only cites an apparently unbiased, authoritative report that indicated that all of the canceled projects were wasteful. For this response to be good, however, the press secretary must assume that it is not the case that most of the districts that the report indicated as wasteful were supportive of the president. If most were supportive, then the fact that the vast majority of canceled projects were from opposition districts would suggest a partisan motive.
A. The press secretary's argument suggests that the president had no interest in punishing opposition districts. Therefore, it does not assume that the president had other ways to do so.
B. Correct. If this were false, then it would make no sense for the press secretary to cite the report in denying that the president's choice was biased; it would in fact undermine the press secretary's rejoinder.
C. Even if all the projects canceled were chosen for sound budgetary reasons, only a small proportion of all governmental highway projects may have been canceled.
D. If the canceled projects in districts controlled by the president's party were more expensive, that might indicate that more money would have gone to those districts had they not been canceled, which would suggest that the motivation for canceling them probably was not partisan politics, which is the claim that the press secretary is arguing for.
E. The press secretary's argument assumes that the report by the nonpartisan auditors was unbiased, not that the opposition parties must regard it as such.
The correct answer is B.
Prep2012-Pack1-CR-060 VCR001308 Hard
Reasoning
What robes do the two boldfaced statements play in the passage? The passage starts by presenting a goal and a strategy for reaching that goal. The first boldfaced statement is a rejection of that strategy. The passage then presents a premise that supports the first boldfaced statement as a conclusion. Next, the passage describes other factors that suggest an alternative strategy. Finally, the second boldfaced statement presents and recommends that alternative strategy.
A. The first statement assesses not the goal, but rather a strategy for reaching the goal; the second presents not another goal, but rather another strategy for reaching the same goal.
B. The first statement assesses not a goal, but rather a strategy for reaching a goal.
C. Correct. The first statement presents the conclusion that one strategy is ill-conceived; the second statement presents and advocates an alternative strategy.
D. The main conclusion is not that the first strategy should be rejected, but rather that the alternative strategy should be accepted.
E. E The idea that the first strategy should be rejected is used to support the idea that the alternative strategy should be accepted, not vice versa.
The correct answer is C.
