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Press Secretary: Our critics claim that the President’s recent highway [#permalink]
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16 May 2005, 08:18
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Question Stats:
45% (01:34) correct
55% (02:01) wrong based on 1025 sessions
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Press Secretary: Our critics claim that the President’s recent highway project cancellations demonstrate a vindictive desire to punish legislative districts controlled by opposition parties. They offer as evidence the fact that 90 percent of the projects canceled were in such districts. But all of the canceled projects had been identified as wasteful in a report written by respected nonpartisan auditors. So the President’s choice was clearly motivated by sound budgetary policy, not partisan politics.
Which of the following is an assumption on which the press secretary’s argument depends?
(A) Canceling highway projects was not the only way for the President to punish legislative districts controlled by opposition parties.
(B) The scheduled highway projects identified as wasteful in the report were not mostly projects in districts controlled by the President’s party.
(C) The number of projects canceled was a significant proportion of all the highway projects that were to be undertaken by the government in the near future.
(D) The highway projects canceled in districts controlled by the President’s party were not generally more expensive than the projects canceled in districts controlled by opposition parties.
(E) Reports by nonpartisan auditors are not generally regarded by the opposition parties as a source of objective assessments of government projects.
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Last edited by hazelnut on 27 Aug 2017, 05:37, edited 3 times in total.
Re: Press Secretary: Our critics claim that the President’s recent highway [#permalink]
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22 May 2005, 14:52
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IMO its B)...negate B) => "The scheduled highway projects identified as wasteful in the report were mostly projects in districts controlled by the President's party". so the author was not driven by sound budgetary policy, but by the fact that most of the wastefult projects are in his districts. so he is partisan.
...negate E) "Reports by nonpartisan auditors are generally regarded by the opposition parties as a source of objective assessment of government projects". when even the oppositon thinks that this report is objective, then it should be fine to conclude that the president is not partisan but just a politician who is concerned about the economy.
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Re: Press Secretary: Our critics claim that the President’s recent highway [#permalink]
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22 May 2005, 17:45
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christoph wrote:
IMO its B)...negate B) => "The scheduled highway projects identified as wasteful in the report were mostly projects in districts controlled by the President's party". so the author was not driven by sound budgetary policy, but by the fact that most of the wastefult projects are in his districts. so he is partisan.
...negate E) "Reports by nonpartisan auditors are generally regarded by the opposition parties as a source of objective assessment of government projects". when even the oppositon thinks that this report is objective, then it should be fine to conclude that the president is not partisan but just a politician who is concerned about the economy.
Re: Press Secretary: Our critics claim that the President’s recent highway [#permalink]
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22 May 2005, 22:59
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Opposing argument: President carries partisan politics.
Fact: 90% project cancelled are by opposing party.
Counter argument: All the cancelled project have been identified as bad by a nonpartisan auditor.
What is the missing link here?
What if the auditor has identified many projects by the controlling party as well as by the opposing party as wasteful and the president only cancels the opposing party ones?
To make the press secretary's argument work one has to make the assumption that there aren't a lot of bad projects in the controling party district in the auditor's report.
Therefore (B) would be the correct answer.
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Re: Press Secretary: Our critics claim that the President’s recent highway [#permalink]
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23 May 2005, 20:08
HongHu wrote:
Opposing argument: President carries partisan politics. Fact: 90% project cancelled are by opposing party. Counter argument: All the cancelled project have been identified as bad by a nonpartisan auditor.
What is the missing link here?
What if the auditor has identified many projects by the controlling party as well as by the opposing party as wasteful and the president only cancels the opposing party ones?
To make the press secretary's argument work one has to make the assumption that there aren't a lot of bad projects in the controling party district in the auditor's report.
Therefore (B) would be the correct answer.
I think we are confusing between the arguments of crtics and argument of press sec.
My understanding is ..
Press Sec'c argument is "all of the cancelled projects had been identified as wasteful in a report written by respected nonpartisan auditors"
and his argument is convincing if non partisan party's reports are not prone to objection and that's what press sec assumes.
Re: Press Secretary: Our critics claim that the President’s recent highway [#permalink]
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16 Dec 2012, 06:39
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Press Secretary: Our critics claim that the President’s recent highway project cancellations demonstrate a vindictive desire to punish legislative districts controlled by opposition parties. They offer as evidence the fact that 90 percent of the projects canceled were in such districts. But all of the canceled projects had been identified as wasteful in a report written by respected nonpartisan auditors. So the President’s choice was clearly motivated by sound budgetary policy, not partisan politics.
Which of the following is an assumption on which the press secretary’s argument depends?
A. Canceling highway projects was not the only way for the President to punish legislative districts controlled by opposition parties. B. The scheduled highway projects identified as wasteful in the report were not mostly projects in districts controlled by the President’s party. C. The number of projects canceled was a significant proportion of all the highway projects that were to be undertaken by the government in the near future. D. The highway projects canceled in districts controlled by the President’s party were not generally more expensive than the projects canceled in districts controlled by opposition parties. E. Reports by nonpartisan auditors are not generally regarded by the opposition parties as a source of objective assessments of government projects.
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Re: Press Secretary: Our critics claim that the President’s recent highway [#permalink]
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16 Dec 2012, 22:20
A. Canceling highway projects was not the only way for the President to punish legislative districts controlled by opposition parties. Logical error. Does not strengthen the argument. Just because canceling the projects was not the only option to be vindictive, does not mean that the action itself was not vindictive. B. The scheduled highway projects identified as wasteful in the report were not mostly projects in districts controlled by the President’s party. Most cancelled projects were in opposition districts (existing premise), but most of the projects identified as wasteful were also in opposition districts (this choice). This combination strengthens the argument. Correct. C. The number of projects canceled was a significant proportion of all the highway projects that were to be undertaken by the government in the near future. Out of scope. Incorrect. D. The highway projects canceled in districts controlled by the President’s party were not generally more expensive than the projects canceled in districts controlled by opposition parties. Weakens the argument, rather than strengthen it. Incorrect. E. Reports by nonpartisan auditors are not generally regarded by the opposition parties as a source of objective assessments of government projects. Weakens the argument, rather than strengthen it. Incorrect.
Thanks for sharing.
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Premise of the argument: "all of the canceled projects had been identified as wasteful in a report written by respected nonpartisan auditors."
Conclusion of the argument: "So the President’s choice was clearly motivated by sound budgetary policy, not partisan politics."
In the assumption questions, the conclusion follows given the premise and the unstated assumption. In such questions, the premise is not complete. It needs something more which is the assumption for the conclusion to logically follow. In the above question the premise says that all the cancelled projects were wasteful. Choice B completes that by saying that all the wasteful projects were indeed cancelled and were not based on partisan politics. Only then the conclusion that the decision was based on sound budgetary policy follows.
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Re: Press Secretary: Our critics claim that the President’s recent highway [#permalink]
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06 Jan 2013, 10:57
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Marcab wrote:
Press Secretary: Our critics claim that the President’s recent highway project cancellations demonstrate a vindictive desire to punish legislative districts controlled by opposition parties. They offer as evidence the fact that 90 percent of the projects canceled were in such districts. But all of the canceled projects had been identified as wasteful in a report written by respected nonpartisan auditors. So the President’s choice was clearly motivated by sound budgetary policy, not partisan politics.
Which of the following is an assumption on which the press secretary’s argument depends?
A. Canceling highway projects was not the only way for the President to punish legislative districts controlled by opposition parties. B. The scheduled highway projects identified as wasteful in the report were not mostly projects in districts controlled by the President’s party. C. The number of projects canceled was a significant proportion of all the highway projects that were to be undertaken by the government in the near future. D. The highway projects canceled in districts controlled by the President’s party were not generally more expensive than the projects canceled in districts controlled by opposition parties. E. Reports by nonpartisan auditors are not generally regarded by the opposition parties as a source of objective assessments of government projects.
B is clearly the answer. The other options go in other directions respect the argument at stake _________________
Re: Press Secretary: Our critics claim that the President’s recent highway [#permalink]
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06 Jan 2013, 11:10
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Oh my my... Got it now. This is the third time today that I tackled this question. I mean how can I be so stupid. Don't know why was I not able to solve this one.
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Re: Press Secretary: Our critics claim that the President’s recent highway [#permalink]
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06 Jan 2013, 11:15
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Marcab wrote:
Oh my my... Got it now. This is the third time today that I tackled this question. I mean how can I be so stupid. Don't know why was I not able to solve this one.
Press Secretary: Our critics claim that the President’s recent highway project cancellations demonstrate a vindictive desire to punish legislative districts controlled by opposition parties. They offer as evidence the fact that 90 percent of the projects canceled were in such districts. But all of the canceled projects had been identified as wasteful in a report written by respected nonpartisan auditors. So the President’s choice was clearly motivated by sound budgetary policy, not partisan politics.
Which of the following is an assumption on which the press secretary’s argument depends?
A. Canceling highway projects was not the only way for the President to punish legislative districts controlled by opposition parties. B. The scheduled highway projects identified as wasteful in the report were not mostly projects in districts controlled by the President’s party. C. The number of projects canceled was a significant proportion of all the highway projects that were to be undertaken by the government in the near future. D. The highway projects canceled in districts controlled by the President’s party were not generally more expensive than the projects canceled in districts controlled by opposition parties. E. Reports by nonpartisan auditors are not generally regarded by the opposition parties as a source of objective assessments of government projects.
Lets talk numbers! Lets assume, No of wasteful project districts=200 President's party districts=110 Opposition districts=90 Now lets say that the president cancelled 100 projects with 90 districts belonging to opposition and 10 of his own (so that it becomes 90%) Now clearly the president is NOT fair isnt it? That is exactly what B says!
_________________
Oh my my... Got it now. This is the third time today that I tackled this question. I mean how can I be so stupid. Don't know why was I not able to solve this one.
Re: Press Secretary: Our critics claim that the President’s recent highway [#permalink]
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06 Jan 2013, 11:25
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souvik101990 wrote:
carcass wrote:
Marcab wrote:
Oh my my... Got it now. This is the third time today that I tackled this question. I mean how can I be so stupid. Don't know why was I not able to solve this one.
whre is my kudos
SV disagreement
ehi do you want to know one thing ?? compliments you are the first person on my black list. be happy for this
Re: Press Secretary: Our critics claim that the President’s recent highway [#permalink]
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26 Jan 2013, 04:55
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The Press Secretary goes on to defend the president's choice... That the cancelled projects are supported by nonpartisan auditor and that the choice is objective and not biased...
A. Canceling highway projects was not the only way for the President to punish legislative districts controlled by opposition parties. Other ways to punish legislative districts is irrelevant to the argument...
C. The number of projects cancelled was a significant proportion of all the highway projects that were to be undertaken by the government in the near future. This is attempting to introduce an extended story to the argument... which means it was not assumed by the Press Secretary...
D. Nonpartisan auditors were President's friends. Friendship doesn't make the nonpartisan report biased... two friends can have totally different stand on politics but still be friends... to extend this choice means it is not the assumption...
E. Reports by nonpartisan auditors are not generally regarded by the opposition parties as a source of objective assessment of government projects. what the opposition parties think of the auditor is irrelevant... to what the auditor really is.. did the auditor really gave an honest report or not... that is the line of argument by the Press Secretary... as support that the president's choice is not biased...
Answer:
B. The scheduled highway projects identified as wasteful in the report were not mostly projects in districts controlled by the President's party. If most of the projects identified as wasteful are district controlled by President then the Press Secretary need not to worry about defending the President's choice... _________________
Re: Press Secretary: Our critics claim that the President’s recent highway [#permalink]
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26 Jan 2013, 06:47
Prethinking the assumption is not that necessary but spotting the gap in the argument.. Sometimes answer choices will throw an assumption not the same as what you thought of... That's my two cents
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45% (01:34) correct
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