The Bible says, “By thy fruits shall ye know them.” We know politicians by heroes. John F.Kennedy’s was Winston Churchill; George McGovern’s, Adlai Stevenson; Richard Nixon, Woodrow Wilson. Heroes reflect who we are and/or admire.

Recently, former Republican National Committee director Ken Mehlman revealed his ikons. First: Franklin Roosevelt, to many still The President. Next: Ronald Reagan, a gimme for the GOP. Mehlman’s other hero shows today’s GOP malaise: Middle America’s anti-Christ, its abiding bete noire. On November 22, 1963, Lyndon Johnson, becoming President, began five years of mocking the middle class. In 1969, succeeding him, Nixon sired the “Forgotten American,” noting how LBJ had treated the Silent Majority, as Ring Lardner said, like a side dish he declined to order. On November 22, 1963, Lyndon Johnson, becoming President, began five years of mocking the middle class. In 1969, succeeding him, Nixon sired the “Forgotten American,” noting how LBJ had treated the Silent Majority, as Ring Lardner said, like a side dish he declined to order. To his credit, Johnson dimmed racial discrimination as President. Less nobly, he built the horror house called the mid­to-late 1960s that cleaves America, even now.

On November 22, 1963, Lyndon Johnson, becoming President, began five years of mocking the middle class. In 1969, succeeding him, Nixon sired the “Forgotten American,” noting how LBJ had treated the Silent Majority, as Ring Lardner said, like a side dish he declined to order. To his credit, Johnson dimmed racial discrimination as President. Less nobly, he built the horror house called the mid­to-late 1960s that cleaves America, even now. “It would be difficult,” said sociologist Robert Nisbet, “to find a single decade … [of] as much calculated onslaught against culture and convention than the sixties.” The average voter loathed how drugs thrived, veterans were spit at, and police were called pigs. By contrast, today’s GOP likes how Mayberry was betrayed.

Johnson and Mehlman’s mentor, George W. Bush, deserve each other. It may seem odd to find similarities between a raging Lear and frat boy Prince Hal, but connecting threads exist. To begin, each brooked scandal. LBJ wed Billy Solly Estes, Walter Jenkins, and Bobby Baker. Bush’s party ties Jack Ambramoff, Mark Foley, and Tom Delay.

Vulgar, Johnson gave dictation during an enema, urinated off his ranch’s porch, and hectored aides while going to the john. Bush swears to Tony Blair, publicly uses the “f” word, has wife Laura talk dirty at a D.C. press dinner, and has two daughters more Lindsay Lohan than Lois Lane.

Johnson begot big government’s Great Society. Bush fiascos include Medicare prescription drugs and education’s No Child Left Behind. W. tops LBJ as America’s all-time spender. Johnson’s Presidency died in Vietnam. As Richard Cohen wrote, Bush is an even greater foreign policy “ignoramus,” roiling Iraq in civil war.

Johnson coddled hoods who urban rioted. Bush coddles illegal aliens who break the law. Speakers at the 1968 Democratic Convention clamored to omit LBJ’s name. Bush has become a pariah among many GOP regulars. “Texas deserves better,” said a friend. Who doesn’t?

Johnson augured political correctness. Bush embodies it. Each loved a special interest that felt Main Street déclassé. LBJ became Federal bureaucrats’ Big Daddy. W. is Big Business’ water boy. Johnson forgot how to be a populist. Bush never was. Each slighted those who prize work, family, a fondness for the familiar, and reverence for everything American.

W.’s White House calls such people — its own base! -­

“vigilantes,” “xenophobes,” and “nativists.” Culture is a sewer: Bush can’t comment. Nine in 10 voters back religious symbols in the public square: W. doesn’t care. A Pew Poll says we overwhelmingly want “stricter enforcement of decency rules when children are more likely to be watching TV.” Bush hides, cowered by elites.

By 1968, Johnson’s Presidency rivals “Nightmare on Elm Street. ” Bush’s mimes Mr. T.’ s new cable series, “I Pity the Fool.” At least LBJ rewarded people who elected him: By contrast, W. has betrayed what Reagan called “shared values” of sane spending, limited government, and traditional mores — the general interest, above all.

Instead, Bush plays identity-group politics — an approach that failed LBJ then, and embalms W. now. Too reviled to seek re-election, Johnson’s Administration in 1968 was spurned by 57 percent of voters. Bush’s humiliation occurred this week.

Middle America’s revenge cloaked Election Day. Reading the Bible, W. may finally grasp a passage: “For whatever a man sows, thus he will also reap.”

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