Critical Reasoning

Anyone concerned about the strength of our nation's defenses should look at the records of our state's two candidates for the U.S. Senate. Ed Harmon voted against funding for the Z-19 bomber, rejected the President's defense spending plan last year, and voted to close three U.S. Army bases in our state. Tom Caldwell voted in opposition to Ed Harmon on all three of these issues, and is thus the stronger candidate on defense.

All of the following, if true, would weaken the conclusion above, EXCEPT:

A. Ed Harmon voted for a different defense spending plan that called for a higher rate of spending on defense.
B. The Army bases Ed Harmon voted to close were considered unnecessary by top Army officials.
C. Ed Harmon has experience in dealing with national defense issues and is a proponent of assuring the U.S. maintains a strong defense even in peacetime.
D. Ed Harmon is a twice-decorated U.S. Navy veteran who fought for the United States in two wars.
E. The Z-19 bomber has been superseded by a cheaper and more efficient aircraft.

IMO D.

D neither weakens nor strengthens the argument. Rest all weaken the argument.

kvcpk wrote:Anyone concerned about the strength of our nation's defenses should look at the records of our state's two candidates for the U.S. Senate. Ed Harmon voted against funding for the Z-19 bomber, rejected the President's defense spending plan last year, and voted to close three U.S. Army bases in our state. Tom Caldwell voted in opposition to Ed Harmon on all three of these issues, and is thus the stronger candidate on defense.

All of the following, if true, would weaken the conclusion above, EXCEPT:

A. Ed Harmon voted for a different defense spending plan that called for a higher rate of spending on defense.
B. The Army bases Ed Harmon voted to close were considered unnecessary by top Army officials.
C. Ed Harmon has experience in dealing with national defense issues and is a proponent of assuring the U.S. maintains a strong defense even in peacetime.
D. Ed Harmon is a twice-decorated U.S. Navy veteran who fought for the United States in two wars.
E. The Z-19 bomber has been superseded by a cheaper and more efficient aircraft.

Yes D it is.

Appreciating / gracing Navy veterans does not impact on the reasoning.

I agree with D on the flaw of the ad hominem fallacy usage.

I asked this before, but didn't get an answer, are fallacies always consider to be incorrect in GMAT?

D too.
Good EXCEPT question. I missed the 'except' part initially while going thru the answer choices and couldn't came up with 3 v strong answer choices. No wonder, GMAT includes questions like these to confuse students like me who are prone to reading so fast that they skip words in the first glance.

OA D