…dangit Beckers, did you opt out of “vote for what you’re campaigning” ’cause now you aren’t homeless like Robin SAID you were so she’s already a liar D=
Right??? I was REALLY hoping she’d go for “vote for what you’re campaigning”+tuition. Though i’m not sure if her being paid real campaign manager money was automatically included- but if it was, she could have Definitely afforded a small place nearby- if not a pretty decent one.
Though… here’s to hoping this’ll be one of those “Robin learns her lesson and isn’t a giant jerk when it comes down to vote” things.
The problem is that I think that Robin is a bit like Shao Kahn or Doctor Doom. Yes, you can get them to promise anything you want but unless it’s immediate, they will BREAK that promise eventually.
I mean they will go along with it if you convince them sticking with the promise is in their best interests. Robin now has to spend a lot of time with Becky. That builds character. Also how do actually believe Robin would stick to a promise like that if she didn’t have to spend a bunch of time with Becky. At best she would pretend to follow it until she had an excuse to drop it
She’s not really any less homeless than she was, she’s just crashing at someone else’s place now. Which can still be withdrawn at any time, making it a nice weapon for Robin to hold over her head.
The blowback from all of this is going to hit Leslie, so she’s probably lost the place she was staying and may wind up worse off overall.
That depends on if Becky got her contract in writing. You need to house for this long can be legally enforced. I still think Becky should have asked herself if a couple months rent is really worth more economically and/or emotionally than her friends good graces.
Not necessarily a lie. Robin said “a homeless youth who I’m taking under my wing”. Becky was homeless until right now, and this is the taking under her wing part. I think, honestly, it would be MUCH worse for Robin’s PR if Becky remained homeless despite working for her.
It’s entirely possible Robin bought it outright, transferred the paperwork, and Becky now owns the apartment. I doubt it was very expensive in politician terms, especially if it’s a “place to crash when I can’t be where I want to live”
Yeah, she would, so it could be her main local place. I would think most Congressfolk would still choose to live in, like, Indianapolis or something, but then again, she might be low on funds given how her campaign is going.
Have to have a legal residence in the district, not just anywhere in the state. Whether you spend any time there is up to what your constituents (those who know who their representative is, at any rate) will let you get away with.
Even if Robin doesn’t own it, it doesn’t matter so long as she has the legal right to possession of the premises *and* has the right to sublet. Assuming Robin doesn’t own the apartment, if she can sublet it then she’s entirely within her rights to transfer her right to possession to Becky. The implied agreement seems to be a furnished place, so that includes the furniture. At that point, then Robin would indeed need Becky’s permission to crash on the couch Robin herself owns (but does not own the right to possession to).
Assuming she actually did any of that, which I kind of doubt.
I’m not sure what the terms of such a lease would look like, but they’re not going to be “rent-free forever”.
Though like some have said, it’s easier to get concrete proof for “give me somewhere to live” than it is for “stick to your word on these policies if elected.” And of course, she’s betting on Robin not getting elected, but…
Yes, I think she made the right call. She can persuade Robin to become a better person and that will work much better than a promise that she’d break anyway.
I mean, sweet gig’s a sweet gig, but I get where Becky’s worried, feeling like she’s shaking the devil’s hand. I guess now we learn if Robin’s learned anything or not, given her former constituents abandoned her, and Becky’s tweets are her only way back to relevance. Shows what the people want.
For those who don’t know the song, Daniel the Human has introduced me to it… https://youtu.be/1lWJXDG2i0A
I don’t have to worry about freefalling, I just transform into my large RC plane mode and fly away…
…Till I get hit by lightning. That does more than tingle…
Oh no no no please don’t tell me this means she backed out of the last option because she thought it was an easy lost. No no no- https://youtu.be/umDr0mPuyQc
Lamp will shine a light on the corruption in politics! Lamp is plugged in to the local community! Lamp stands tall as a shining beacon of hope in these trying times!
Lamp Aide 2020: because at this point even an inanimate object would be an improvement.
Finishing off with a great confidence booster. “Congrats, you’re no longer a burden on everyone around you, or getting in the way.” Yeah, Robin seems to still need to work on her “Basic Humanity 101″…
I wouldn’t be surprised if Becky herself said something to Robin about getting out of Leslie’s way in explaining why she chose the two-out-of-three she did. In retrospect, this is why we got the scene with Leslie being awkward about having “snuck” Anna into the apartment past Becky on the sofa earlier; to explain why Becky would later prioritize housing over Robin’s voting record.
Considering how heinous Society has gotten lately I think we might actually need basic human decency and conduct classes just to teach future Generations how to not be assholes going forward.
I suspect we’ve needed that basically forever. I’m not at all sure society has gotten any more heinous in recent years.
When was basic human decency actually common – except between relative equals.
Okay, I’m genuinely confused. Is Robin asking to stay on the couch that Becky used to sleep on, i.e., the couch in Leslie’s apartment? Or is she asking to stay on the couch in Becky’s new apartment which she (Robin) is paying for, and if so, why?
The latter, because Robin gave Becky the place where she herself was staying when in Indiana. She presumably still has another apartment in D.C., but if she doesn’t want to drive / fly there tonight, it’s either “Becky’s” couch or a hotel.
I think she’s asking after Leslie’s couch. She tried to steal the couch from Becky previously and (paraphrasing) said: let Becky stay at her girlfriends, you’re “clitblocking her, yo” to Leslie. The fact Leslie still doesn’t get a say is of course wildly disturbing. It means she still doesn’t get Becky wasn’t the obstacle but her own behavior was…
I’m actually pretty sure the couch Robin is asking for is the one in this apartment. Robin’s saying ‘ok, this is your place now, but since it was my crash pad I need someplace, can it still be here but on the couch as your guest?’
Well I guess we now which options Becky chose. Though since Becky doesn’t think Robin’ll win anyways, I guess I can see why she didn’t pick to make Robin change her political ideals.
On another note, I see Leslie’s lamp that Robin took there in the corner.
Actually, this is a quintessentially Robin moment. The apartment is hers; the lease is likely in her name as are all bills. She’s letting Becky live there because that’s the deal she made but doesn’t have anywhere else to go so she’s still going to live there too! However, she wants Becky to use the bed because the whole deal was that Robin give Becky a place of her own.
I too fear this, but Robin is actually an avatar of Whimma, the Goddess of Impulsiveness, and she has never has anything like a plan to separate desires from actions.
Anyhow, Leslie probably did a spit-take watching CNN tonight.
I don’t? She’s shown exactly zero signs of being attracted to Becky. Robin sucks at boundaries but I don’t think she’s gonna go there
I have no doubt she’ll be obnoxious in OTHER ways though. She probably doesn’t have a lot of friends at the moment so I can totally see her trying to be a third wheel even when Becky’s not on the clock
I’m surprised she didn’t opt for permanent political change and tuition, rather than tuition and accommodation. I know she felt real awks, but now she’s in the pocket of the enemy – which one will really have the greater mental detriment?
She was gonna be in the pocket of the enemy either way. The political change was never gonna happen over a single promise. This is the much smarter play for any rational person
I’m not sure if an addiction center being converted to apartments is a good or bad thing. Like, are there less addicts now or more need to gentrify an area?
It’s gentrification. People want to live in Bloomington, and there aren’t enough apartments for everyone, so your options are
1. Allow limited apartment contrusction via zoning laws, driving up rent by limiting the amount of apartments available and giving renters oligopoly
2. Go full YIMBY and allow apartments everywhere, which keeps rent down but means replacing buildings that are already there, some of which are important.
3. Control rents and have a very small number of rent-controlled apartments that a whole bunch of people enter lotteries to try to win
I’m mostly on the YIMBY side, but every single option hurts poor people in some way.
Of course, this comic takes place in Bloomington where you can rent an entire goddamn house for less than what I pay to sublet a room, so maybe the landlords were just unusually mean here
The political change was a pipe dream. People don’t change their ways over a single promise; especially not someone like Robin. Becky chose the smartest long term option
Becky is certain Robin will lose the election, so she won’t be doing ANY voting either way except as a private citizen. That being the case, two out of three where the options are ‘something’, ‘something’, and ‘nothing’ seems like a no-brainer.
Yeah I think it was both. She’s gotten an apartment, and tuition. I don’t see Robin changing her ways without a lotta work. Though given that she will now have to spend a great deal of time with Becky this might actually work out better than a silly promise
Given that she doesn’t actually care about her positions all that much, I’m not sure why it’d be in her interest to go back on the things she’s promising now.
Becky will soon find that betraying someone, even Robin, feels bad. She can make Robin win by using liberal means, but then she would become an enemy of more left leaning people like Dorothy and Roz. Roz can fuck herlself, but Dorothy is Joyceñs friend, which will make things complicated.
Basically, I think that we’re about to have DoA’s version of The Odd Couple.
I wonder if Becky is going to end up trying to hook Robin up just to stop her death spiral? I’m sure that there are some nice queer ladies at the university who would be interested in dating a basically quirky, kooky and upbeat political operator!
welp, bad decision confirmed. Tuition, grab it. But I would’ve stayed with Leslie or Joyce before supporting untenable right wing positions that clash with my lifestyle. But hey, I guess learning that is part of growing up.
Robin had something to do with the treatment center being closed & the building being converted to apartments, to someone”s profit, right? And this is a case of Chekov”s treatment center? There’s some scandal in the back story that’s going to go “BOOM”?
Hmm. Bet it’s going to go the other way. The Democratic candidate will have the scandal hit, further lowering their support. The combination of Becky and and scandal suffice to push Robin to the top of the polls. The unthinkable happens – Becky made Robin win an unwinnable election.
Some scandal hitting the Democrat is about the only realistic way for her to win. And then she likely would have won anyway – probably more likely if it wasn’t for Becky and she’d had somebody sleazy working to play down the initial Leslie scandal.
Wild-ass guess: Becky is going to wonder why this “used to be” an addiction center, dig, break the scandal that sinks the other candidate. Bam, she was essential in the win, and bonus Dorothy-backed-the-wrong-horse pathos.
So, that’s the two out of three. It makes sense if Becky thinks there’s no way Robin would win, because unless she does she’d be wasting one of her two picks.
I’m sure this will in no way come back to bite her in the ass.
Hm. Since this means that Robin is basically going to vote for shitty stuff (or against good stuff) again if she wins, where is the incentive for Becky to actually help Robin win?
(I have no idea how this will turn out.)
Think about it: Becky has Robin in a trap as far as policy is concerned. If she gets re-elected on a radically progressive platform and then starts voting in line with GOP party lines, she’ll probably recalled so fast that her feet will catch fire. So, a promise to follow Becky’s idea is the easiest one for Becky to enforce even if she isn’t present.
Some may, but recalls are incredibly rare. I know some states have them for state elected officials. I’m not at all sure about for federal politicians.
Theoretically the House could refuse to seat her, but that’s again incredibly rare and generally only happens for blatant election fraud or some such. Or oust her, but again that’s only happened in criminal cases and it’s usually just held as a threat to get someone to resign.
It There’s absolutely 0 chance of that happening. If she’s voting shittily, the Republicans wouldn’t do it because she’d be doing what they want, and the Democrats wouldn’t do it because that would be “rude.”
There is no recall process for federal office holders. If Robin gets elected, she’s there for the next two years, no matter how the voters feel about her. (She could be expelled by the other members of the House, but that’s extremely rare.)
This is because there is no recall process in the U.S. constitution. That is also why states can’t set term limits for federal offices.
There are only nineteen states where state and local officials can be recalled. Indiana is not one of those.
Certainly not, but it’s very rare for someone to campaign way on one side of the political spectrum and then switch way to the other after being elected.
Much more common to either move towards the center or pretend to be more centrist to get elected.
Of course, I can’t think of any examples of anyone running on such a drastic switch, much less winning on it.
Uhm. You should google Poland’s Magdalena Ogórek. She ran for President claiming to be a progressive / leftist… then, after she lost and the right-wing government took power, she immediately switched sides and is currently a right-wing pundit on the state TV.
Well, she’d be elected as a Republican, since there’s not time to get that removed from the ballot. That would make it easier to justify by saying she’s ‘just voting the party line’.
1) If this kind of campaign helps her win this time, it’ll help her keep winning in the next election, while betraying it will hurt her, so there’s at least some incentive to keep it up. Given how easily manipulable Robin seems to be, just staying with her as an aide or recruiting other more liberal staff to guide her could keep her on the right path, especially if it stays popular.
2) While Robin in office with her old stances is a bad thing, she’s only one of many Representatives. Her influence is diluted. The effect of a Republican in Indiana winning a race by campaigning for LGBTQ rights and redistributive taxes would be a political sea change. Even if she betrays that, it’s probably worth it for that alone.
3) Becky’s signed on to the campaign to keep her popularity up the same way she was doing it illicitly on social media. Talking up LGBTQ rights and leftist policy ideas is how she’s supposed to help Robin win. I don’t really see a downside to that.
No, me neither, I’m just wondering if, given that Robin is likely to stray off the liberal path as soon as she can, Becky will get moral qualms about helping Robin do better, should her poll numbers actually improve, and then stop helping Robin at all — at which point there may be trouble, one way or another?
I don’t see Becky picking tuition and a home out of the 3 as a bad thing. The thing a lot of folks seem to be overlooking is Robin was campaigning the way she did to get the votes. She never seemed 100% into what she was pushing for, only that it got her butt in congress. It’ll be a harder road to walk but Robin can still get what she wants by leaning liberal AND she could learn to be a better person for it.
Plus it definitely wouldn’t have worked if Becky just made Robin promise to lean liberal. Robin needs to learn and reach that conclusion on her own.
I think Robin will win because the Republican voters won’t vote for Manley as an alternative and the only thing she’s losing is people who wouldn’t show up to vote now.
I positively love Robin in the last panel. That’s one of the things I find cute about that: she may seem like this imperious / pompous politician on the surface… but scratch a little and you can see her dorky side 🙂
As I recall, this is supposed to be Robin’s first re-election campaign; we also know that she ran for congress as soon as she was constitutionally able to, i.e. at age 25.
So that makes Robin about ~27 years old, if she was elected the first time she ran – placing her as two years younger than AOC.
Alright, Mary calls Robin “thirty” here, which if she’s not generalizing/rounding up, would place Robin as being one year older than AOC. And also imply Robin’s first campaign didn’t end with her election: url=http://www.dumbingofage.com/2016/comic/book-6/04-it-all-returns/fraud/>here</url
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“also, can I borrow ten dollars”
…dangit Beckers, did you opt out of “vote for what you’re campaigning” ’cause now you aren’t homeless like Robin SAID you were so she’s already a liar D=
Right??? I was REALLY hoping she’d go for “vote for what you’re campaigning”+tuition. Though i’m not sure if her being paid real campaign manager money was automatically included- but if it was, she could have Definitely afforded a small place nearby- if not a pretty decent one.
Though… here’s to hoping this’ll be one of those “Robin learns her lesson and isn’t a giant jerk when it comes down to vote” things.
Becky didn’t go for the vote because she figured that Robin didn’t stand a chance. This will of course come back to bite her.
probably, yes.
The problem is that I think that Robin is a bit like Shao Kahn or Doctor Doom. Yes, you can get them to promise anything you want but unless it’s immediate, they will BREAK that promise eventually.
I mean they will go along with it if you convince them sticking with the promise is in their best interests. Robin now has to spend a lot of time with Becky. That builds character. Also how do actually believe Robin would stick to a promise like that if she didn’t have to spend a bunch of time with Becky. At best she would pretend to follow it until she had an excuse to drop it
Figured this was the case when Becky called Robin a pinata. Also explains why Robin whisked her offstage when she spewed liberal policy.
This makes everything way more chaotic, especially if Robin ends up winning. I’m totally here for it.
Yeah this definitely the best choice narratively. Willis always plays the long game
She’s not really any less homeless than she was, she’s just crashing at someone else’s place now. Which can still be withdrawn at any time, making it a nice weapon for Robin to hold over her head.
The blowback from all of this is going to hit Leslie, so she’s probably lost the place she was staying and may wind up worse off overall.
That depends on if Becky got her contract in writing. You need to house for this long can be legally enforced. I still think Becky should have asked herself if a couple months rent is really worth more economically and/or emotionally than her friends good graces.
Not necessarily a lie. Robin said “a homeless youth who I’m taking under my wing”. Becky was homeless until right now, and this is the taking under her wing part. I think, honestly, it would be MUCH worse for Robin’s PR if Becky remained homeless despite working for her.
you’re paying for it, robin, it’s your couch
Well, she’s now paying for it to pay Becky /with/, so I don’t know if it still qualifies as hers.
Oh great. Now the bonus comic polls are going to be runoffs between “Leslie’s couch”, “Robin’s couch”, and “Becky’s couch”.
With the privacy chairs as a runner up
It’s entirely possible Robin bought it outright, transferred the paperwork, and Becky now owns the apartment. I doubt it was very expensive in politician terms, especially if it’s a “place to crash when I can’t be where I want to live”
Wouldn’t Robin need a legal residence in Indiana to be a congressional representative of that state? This could be that place for Robin.
Yeah, she would, so it could be her main local place. I would think most Congressfolk would still choose to live in, like, Indianapolis or something, but then again, she might be low on funds given how her campaign is going.
Have to have a legal residence in the district, not just anywhere in the state. Whether you spend any time there is up to what your constituents (those who know who their representative is, at any rate) will let you get away with.
As she said “in town” Presumably Robin still has a place in either DC or elsewhere in Indiana
Even if Robin doesn’t own it, it doesn’t matter so long as she has the legal right to possession of the premises *and* has the right to sublet. Assuming Robin doesn’t own the apartment, if she can sublet it then she’s entirely within her rights to transfer her right to possession to Becky. The implied agreement seems to be a furnished place, so that includes the furniture. At that point, then Robin would indeed need Becky’s permission to crash on the couch Robin herself owns (but does not own the right to possession to).
Assuming she actually did any of that, which I kind of doubt.
I’m not sure what the terms of such a lease would look like, but they’re not going to be “rent-free forever”.
I think she’s asking to go back to the Leslie’s couch, which beck was occupying.
That makes a lot more sense actually.
Welp, we’re all doomed but Becky most of all.
*plays Billy Idol’s “Rebel Yell” on the stereo* (For Confederate Memorial Day)
And how much you wanna bet that one of the walls is insulated with crack pipes?
Freedom’s just another word for no voters left to lose…
Actually, with the mouseover text, a little Tom Petty would fit right in…
Dammit, Becky. I mean, I know you were in a tough spot, but…dammit, Becky.
Though like some have said, it’s easier to get concrete proof for “give me somewhere to live” than it is for “stick to your word on these policies if elected.” And of course, she’s betting on Robin not getting elected, but…
Any attempts of concrete proof about voting your campaign could get them both in major trouble.
Yes, I think she made the right call. She can persuade Robin to become a better person and that will work much better than a promise that she’d break anyway.
I mean, sweet gig’s a sweet gig, but I get where Becky’s worried, feeling like she’s shaking the devil’s hand. I guess now we learn if Robin’s learned anything or not, given her former constituents abandoned her, and Becky’s tweets are her only way back to relevance. Shows what the people want.
Hovertext wins!!! Best song.
For those who don’t know the song, Daniel the Human has introduced me to it…
https://youtu.be/1lWJXDG2i0A
I don’t have to worry about freefalling, I just transform into my large RC plane mode and fly away…
…Till I get hit by lightning. That does more than tingle…
Oh no no no please don’t tell me this means she backed out of the last option because she thought it was an easy lost. No no no- https://youtu.be/umDr0mPuyQc
Yup, she chose a nice apartment for a couple months! Good job Becky!
a href=”https://youtu.be/u5k_arVcqR8″>Oh man oh god!
Oops, bad html. You know the link at least.
It is the Dumbing of Age but I think 3# was a pie in the sky anyway.
Yeah, if she was unwilling to change on her own, making her promise wasn’t gonna work
Those might just be the least confident thumbs-up I’ve ever seen. And honestly, Becky? Same.
… Of course the space used to be an addiction center. Of course it was.
Did she shut it down to have a place to live?
If so, better not tell Becky. Rational or not, she looks like she’s doing enough second-guessing herself already!
I see one of Robin’s staff in the corner.
That’s right, I see you, Lamp.
Sheesh, what has Lamp done for the team lately? That slacker’s gonna get demoted all the way down to *some sort of half-hearted gesture* at this rate.
I still think lamp has a bright future in politics.
(Well spotted, King Daniel)
Lamp will shine a light on the corruption in politics! Lamp is plugged in to the local community! Lamp stands tall as a shining beacon of hope in these trying times!
Lamp Aide 2020: because at this point even an inanimate object would be an improvement.
“It’s a lamp! It’s an aide! Lamp ‘n’ Aide 2020 !!”
No ‘Like’ button. 8-( Can we have a LOL button?
I, too, am happy to see the return of Lamp!
Finishing off with a great confidence booster. “Congrats, you’re no longer a burden on everyone around you, or getting in the way.” Yeah, Robin seems to still need to work on her “Basic Humanity 101″…
I wouldn’t be surprised if Becky herself said something to Robin about getting out of Leslie’s way in explaining why she chose the two-out-of-three she did. In retrospect, this is why we got the scene with Leslie being awkward about having “snuck” Anna into the apartment past Becky on the sofa earlier; to explain why Becky would later prioritize housing over Robin’s voting record.
ooh good idea about the reason for the Anna scene.
But Leslie chose the 2 of 3, not Becky
She’s GOP. Becky isn’t human to her for several reasons. Like being poor.
Considering how heinous Society has gotten lately I think we might actually need basic human decency and conduct classes just to teach future Generations how to not be assholes going forward.
I’d object to that characterization, only I think you are right on this point.
I suspect we’ve needed that basically forever. I’m not at all sure society has gotten any more heinous in recent years.
When was basic human decency actually common – except between relative equals.
Okay, I’m genuinely confused. Is Robin asking to stay on the couch that Becky used to sleep on, i.e., the couch in Leslie’s apartment? Or is she asking to stay on the couch in Becky’s new apartment which she (Robin) is paying for, and if so, why?
The latter, because Robin gave Becky the place where she herself was staying when in Indiana. She presumably still has another apartment in D.C., but if she doesn’t want to drive / fly there tonight, it’s either “Becky’s” couch or a hotel.
I think Robin wants to stay around Leslie because Becky provides a similar “lesbian fun happy time” vibes that Robin enjoyed tremendously.
Which is all manner of Squick if Robin thinks Becky would be interested in her.
I don’t think Robin wanting Becky has been forshadowed at all outside of insane fanfiction.
Insane fanfiction is the best fanfiction.
A landlord owns a building, but doesn’t just barge in on tenants.
Of course, designating the place to be Becky’s own for a time is more then she had to do, and actually respecting that after saying it is… surprising.
I think she’s asking after Leslie’s couch. She tried to steal the couch from Becky previously and (paraphrasing) said: let Becky stay at her girlfriends, you’re “clitblocking her, yo” to Leslie. The fact Leslie still doesn’t get a say is of course wildly disturbing. It means she still doesn’t get Becky wasn’t the obstacle but her own behavior was…
I’m actually pretty sure the couch Robin is asking for is the one in this apartment. Robin’s saying ‘ok, this is your place now, but since it was my crash pad I need someplace, can it still be here but on the couch as your guest?’
Way more polite, and I’m hoping you/others are right. Robin would be improving versus… being Robin.
Well I guess we now which options Becky chose. Though since Becky doesn’t think Robin’ll win anyways, I guess I can see why she didn’t pick to make Robin change her political ideals.
On another note, I see Leslie’s lamp that Robin took there in the corner.
Last panel Robin is SO MUCH Robin.
I wonder what Leslie thinks of this
Robin presenting people with Real Estate? I’m having pleasant Shortpacked! flashbacks. I approve.
Actually, this is a quintessentially Robin moment. The apartment is hers; the lease is likely in her name as are all bills. She’s letting Becky live there because that’s the deal she made but doesn’t have anywhere else to go so she’s still going to live there too! However, she wants Becky to use the bed because the whole deal was that Robin give Becky a place of her own.
Only Robin’s brain could work in this way.
god i love robin
Is it disturbing that I think Robin wants Becky to be her replacement Leslie.
…yes.
And also, probably true.
I too fear this, but Robin is actually an avatar of Whimma, the Goddess of Impulsiveness, and she has never has anything like a plan to separate desires from actions.
Anyhow, Leslie probably did a spit-take watching CNN tonight.
Just one?
I don’t? She’s shown exactly zero signs of being attracted to Becky. Robin sucks at boundaries but I don’t think she’s gonna go there
I have no doubt she’ll be obnoxious in OTHER ways though. She probably doesn’t have a lot of friends at the moment so I can totally see her trying to be a third wheel even when Becky’s not on the clock
I’m surprised she didn’t opt for permanent political change and tuition, rather than tuition and accommodation. I know she felt real awks, but now she’s in the pocket of the enemy – which one will really have the greater mental detriment?
I don’t think Robin has Stark-levels of oathkeeping.
She was gonna be in the pocket of the enemy either way. The political change was never gonna happen over a single promise. This is the much smarter play for any rational person
God after bingereading shortpaccked going back to dumbing of age fundamentally a not good person robin is defenitely gonna take some readjusting to
Both versions of Robin are shortsighted and selfish, but she’s a lot less endearing here.
(If it helps any, just imagine this is Walkyverse Robin, phased into the DoA universe thanks to the Cadbury egg bender.)
Completely selfish cartoon politicians was a lot funnier pre-2016.
I’m not sure if an addiction center being converted to apartments is a good or bad thing. Like, are there less addicts now or more need to gentrify an area?
It’s HIGHLY unlikely they ran out of addicts
More likely the wealthier residents nearby worked to shut it down because it lowered properly values, or something to that effect
But where did they go? Somewhere nice?
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2016/comic/book-6/04-it-all-returns/nina/
A nice farm upstate?
Yeah those things usually only shut down because the run out of funding or get purposefully shut down
It’s gentrification. People want to live in Bloomington, and there aren’t enough apartments for everyone, so your options are
1. Allow limited apartment contrusction via zoning laws, driving up rent by limiting the amount of apartments available and giving renters oligopoly
2. Go full YIMBY and allow apartments everywhere, which keeps rent down but means replacing buildings that are already there, some of which are important.
3. Control rents and have a very small number of rent-controlled apartments that a whole bunch of people enter lotteries to try to win
I’m mostly on the YIMBY side, but every single option hurts poor people in some way.
Of course, this comic takes place in Bloomington where you can rent an entire goddamn house for less than what I pay to sublet a room, so maybe the landlords were just unusually mean here
…. ouch. I wonder if Robin will hold fast to that 2/3.
Tuition plus apartment. She already did
Goddammit, Becky.
The political change was a pipe dream. People don’t change their ways over a single promise; especially not someone like Robin. Becky chose the smartest long term option
Except, no, she didn’t. Now instead of at least TRYING to get Robin to agree to keep to what she campaigns on, she hasn’t even tried.
Becky is certain Robin will lose the election, so she won’t be doing ANY voting either way except as a private citizen. That being the case, two out of three where the options are ‘something’, ‘something’, and ‘nothing’ seems like a no-brainer.
Then Becky better hope she does lose the election or this can bite her in the ass hard.
Guys, “pick two of three” was a punchline, not a plot point.
I love the last panel, though. Takes a certain kind of humility.
Things can be both.
Yeah I think it was both. She’s gotten an apartment, and tuition. I don’t see Robin changing her ways without a lotta work. Though given that she will now have to spend a great deal of time with Becky this might actually work out better than a silly promise
Given that she doesn’t actually care about her positions all that much, I’m not sure why it’d be in her interest to go back on the things she’s promising now.
To keep her Republican masters and donors happy.
Doesn’t last panel Robin almost sound like she knows that Becky doesn’t really want her to win?
Possible incoming Robin/Becky bonding scene whilst the two of them compare hard luck tales.
Robin giving people houses strikes across timelines.
Becky will soon find that betraying someone, even Robin, feels bad. She can make Robin win by using liberal means, but then she would become an enemy of more left leaning people like Dorothy and Roz. Roz can fuck herlself, but Dorothy is Joyceñs friend, which will make things complicated.
How the tables have turned.
Also Becky is starting to realize that Robin failing is not such an absolutely unavoidable outcome XD
“Springtime for Hitler”, eh?
Ohohoho would be hilarious if Becky started sabotaging Robin but everything she did would only result in more good press for her XD
If Robin had that place in town this whole time, then there was no need for her to try to stay in Leslie’s apartment.
And your point is?
Didn’t Robin escape to Leslie because paparazzi were besieging her apartment?
what
Basically, I think that we’re about to have DoA’s version of The Odd Couple.
I wonder if Becky is going to end up trying to hook Robin up just to stop her death spiral? I’m sure that there are some nice queer ladies at the university who would be interested in dating a basically quirky, kooky and upbeat political operator!
We’re thinking Daisy then?
welp, bad decision confirmed. Tuition, grab it. But I would’ve stayed with Leslie or Joyce before supporting untenable right wing positions that clash with my lifestyle. But hey, I guess learning that is part of growing up.
I’m thinking that CNN’s report on Robin’s presser was likely the ‘end of the quarter-hour comedy final story’ segment.
Robin had something to do with the treatment center being closed & the building being converted to apartments, to someone”s profit, right? And this is a case of Chekov”s treatment center? There’s some scandal in the back story that’s going to go “BOOM”?
Hmm. Bet it’s going to go the other way. The Democratic candidate will have the scandal hit, further lowering their support. The combination of Becky and and scandal suffice to push Robin to the top of the polls. The unthinkable happens – Becky made Robin win an unwinnable election.
Some scandal hitting the Democrat is about the only realistic way for her to win. And then she likely would have won anyway – probably more likely if it wasn’t for Becky and she’d had somebody sleazy working to play down the initial Leslie scandal.
Mind you, this is Robin so “realistic” doesn’t really apply. Wacky hijinks are more likely.
Wild-ass guess: Becky is going to wonder why this “used to be” an addiction center, dig, break the scandal that sinks the other candidate. Bam, she was essential in the win, and bonus Dorothy-backed-the-wrong-horse pathos.
So, that’s the two out of three. It makes sense if Becky thinks there’s no way Robin would win, because unless she does she’d be wasting one of her two picks.
I’m sure this will in no way come back to bite her in the ass.
Bite her in the ass? I don’t think Robin’s into that. The whole cast is pretty vanilla.
Except for Amazi-Girl and Danny on the grappling hooks. And Joe’s sex swing. And the whole violent sex thing Ruth and Billie have going on.
I mean, no one’s into serious kink that we know of, but I don’t think most who do get into that early in college anyway.
Hm. Since this means that Robin is basically going to vote for shitty stuff (or against good stuff) again if she wins, where is the incentive for Becky to actually help Robin win?
(I have no idea how this will turn out.)
Think about it: Becky has Robin in a trap as far as policy is concerned. If she gets re-elected on a radically progressive platform and then starts voting in line with GOP party lines, she’ll probably recalled so fast that her feet will catch fire. So, a promise to follow Becky’s idea is the easiest one for Becky to enforce even if she isn’t present.
Oh — can Representatives in the US be voted out before the end of their term?
It depends on the State; different States have different laws but at least some of them have that provision, yes.
Some may, but recalls are incredibly rare. I know some states have them for state elected officials. I’m not at all sure about for federal politicians.
Theoretically the House could refuse to seat her, but that’s again incredibly rare and generally only happens for blatant election fraud or some such. Or oust her, but again that’s only happened in criminal cases and it’s usually just held as a threat to get someone to resign.
It There’s absolutely 0 chance of that happening. If she’s voting shittily, the Republicans wouldn’t do it because she’d be doing what they want, and the Democrats wouldn’t do it because that would be “rude.”
There is no recall process for federal office holders. If Robin gets elected, she’s there for the next two years, no matter how the voters feel about her. (She could be expelled by the other members of the House, but that’s extremely rare.)
This is because there is no recall process in the U.S. constitution. That is also why states can’t set term limits for federal offices.
There are only nineteen states where state and local officials can be recalled. Indiana is not one of those.
I think it’s important to note Robin wouldn’t be the first politician to lie to get elected or break promises.
Certainly not, but it’s very rare for someone to campaign way on one side of the political spectrum and then switch way to the other after being elected.
Much more common to either move towards the center or pretend to be more centrist to get elected.
Of course, I can’t think of any examples of anyone running on such a drastic switch, much less winning on it.
Uhm. You should google Poland’s Magdalena Ogórek. She ran for President claiming to be a progressive / leftist… then, after she lost and the right-wing government took power, she immediately switched sides and is currently a right-wing pundit on the state TV.
I didn’t say that there weren’t any such 🙂
Still, it’s not quite the same, since she didn’t do the switch in office after winning.
Well, she’d be elected as a Republican, since there’s not time to get that removed from the ballot. That would make it easier to justify by saying she’s ‘just voting the party line’.
1) If this kind of campaign helps her win this time, it’ll help her keep winning in the next election, while betraying it will hurt her, so there’s at least some incentive to keep it up. Given how easily manipulable Robin seems to be, just staying with her as an aide or recruiting other more liberal staff to guide her could keep her on the right path, especially if it stays popular.
2) While Robin in office with her old stances is a bad thing, she’s only one of many Representatives. Her influence is diluted. The effect of a Republican in Indiana winning a race by campaigning for LGBTQ rights and redistributive taxes would be a political sea change. Even if she betrays that, it’s probably worth it for that alone.
3) Becky’s signed on to the campaign to keep her popularity up the same way she was doing it illicitly on social media. Talking up LGBTQ rights and leftist policy ideas is how she’s supposed to help Robin win. I don’t really see a downside to that.
No, me neither, I’m just wondering if, given that Robin is likely to stray off the liberal path as soon as she can, Becky will get moral qualms about helping Robin do better, should her poll numbers actually improve, and then stop helping Robin at all — at which point there may be trouble, one way or another?
Becky may be subtle enough to stop helping her while still helping her. 🙂
I don’t see Becky picking tuition and a home out of the 3 as a bad thing. The thing a lot of folks seem to be overlooking is Robin was campaigning the way she did to get the votes. She never seemed 100% into what she was pushing for, only that it got her butt in congress. It’ll be a harder road to walk but Robin can still get what she wants by leaning liberal AND she could learn to be a better person for it.
Plus it definitely wouldn’t have worked if Becky just made Robin promise to lean liberal. Robin needs to learn and reach that conclusion on her own.
She’s a good girl, loves her Dina
Loves Jesus and America too
She’s a good girl, she’s crazy ’bout Lezbis
Loves Joyce and her girlfriend too
Oooooo! Robin and Becky! I shipwreck that!
I think Robin will win because the Republican voters won’t vote for Manley as an alternative and the only thing she’s losing is people who wouldn’t show up to vote now.
So she gets some crossover votes and she wins.
I positively love Robin in the last panel. That’s one of the things I find cute about that: she may seem like this imperious / pompous politician on the surface… but scratch a little and you can see her dorky side 🙂
Robin’s outfit seems to match Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s dance outfit. Didn’t think that would be Robin’s journey in Congress!
And that, again, makes me wonder: how old is Robin? Is she AOC’s age, or older?
I’d guess about the same age, more or less, given Roz is at uni.
Oh? So young?
As I recall, this is supposed to be Robin’s first re-election campaign; we also know that she ran for congress as soon as she was constitutionally able to, i.e. at age 25.
So that makes Robin about ~27 years old, if she was elected the first time she ran – placing her as two years younger than AOC.
Alright, Mary calls Robin “thirty” here, which if she’s not generalizing/rounding up, would place Robin as being one year older than AOC. And also imply Robin’s first campaign didn’t end with her election: url=http://www.dumbingofage.com/2016/comic/book-6/04-it-all-returns/fraud/>here</url
I always seem to mess up with the HTML for links: http://www.dumbingofage.com/2016/comic/book-6/04-it-all-returns/fraud/
Honestly, I’m just glad Becky has a safe place to live right now. And she’s close by so she can visit Dina and Joyce regularly, too.
I can’t believe nobody asked why the couch is placed right in front of a closet!
It happens; my bed is in front of a closet. Makes it kind of inconvenient whenever something needs to be retrieved from there. 😛