Are John “Quiverlip” Boehner and Mitch “Multichin” McConnell vying for the title of Vile Misanthrope? Even “misanthrope” isn’t enough; you must put vile in front of it. But one has to mention that Boehner’s Ohio district and the state of Kentucky must bear some blame for electing such miscreants to important government posts, actions repeated in too many such errant enclaves in America. After all, though from gerrymandered districts, scores of such voters returned too many radical Republicans to the House, many of whom helped precipitate a credit downgrade for our government a few short months ago.

Nevertheless, both disgusting Republican leaders, their fingerprints still on the “fiscal cliff” setup, have totally forgotten what “good of country” means. They have been puppeting the causes of the rich so long that majority rule, will of the people, democracy, common good, and general welfare are alien terms. After all, 65% of Americans favor raising taxes on those making over $250,000 per year and about the same percentage is against cutting Medicare or social security benefits.

Neither Boehner nor McConnell is good at the leadership role he occupies, that is, if the criteria is marshalling their party’s efforts to serve the interests of the 99% not the 1%. Even beyond that, they have quite effectively bumbled in gaining additional advantage for the latter.

Consider John Boehner. He is so inept at his job as Speaker of the House that he fails at the legislative part of the partisan game he is playing. Averting another national crisis over the so-called fiscal cliff was no consideration. Rather he staged a vote for a partisan tax measure, supposed to embarrass Democrats, not even knowing whether it could pass. It didn’t even come up for a vote.

Then there is mean old Mitch. He returned from Christmas with his underpants in a wad. The image above tells that story. He threatened to kill unemployment insurance for 2 million Americans unless he gets spending cuts, not just any spending cuts. Ideal cuts for him include food stamps, Medicare, and Medicaid. One assumes he evicted vulnerable, perhaps even disabled tenants, over Christmas to warm up to the minority leader task.

It looks like a lock that our country will reach the end of 2012 without dealing with automatic spending cuts, the end of the payroll tax break, the end of unemployment benefits, and the end of the Bush tax cuts for everyone. The net effect of so much loss in disposable income will mean going from a +3% growth in GDP for the fourth quarter of 2012 to a drop of 3% in GDP by the end of the first quarter of 2013, at which time another recession will start. That’s not peanuts, with a $16 trillion GDP.

Remember we are assuming that the “Do-nothing Congress” will not act, even in 2013.

It is not so much of a fiscal cliff as it is a fiscal slope because over many months of 2013, millions of jobs will not be created and hundreds of billions of dollars will be taken out of your hands. The fiscal cliff metaphor is somewhat of an exaggeration. It is the usual hyperbole used in popular media to bug your eyes out and by consumer marketing to reduce your net worth and increase your girth.

But the fact remains that the Republican Party does not really care about the impact. There is still enough of a radical group of Republicans who live in the dream world that libertarians like the Koch brothers have created for them. But in general Republicans just want to control the message, the media, and the economy – all for their agenda of maintaining, even increasing, income and wealth for the rich.