God, are American politicians STILL quoting Abraham Lincoln?

Here's what I found on Mitt Romney's website, which I had the misfortune of clicking on just now: "The best ally world peace has ever known is a strong America. The 'last best hope of earth' was what Abraham Lincoln called our country..."

...was what Abraham Lincoln called our country in 1862.

Here's what else Abraham Lincoln said in that speech: "The way is plain, peaceful, generous, just -- a way which, if followed, the world will forever applaud, and God must forever bless."

Plain, peaceful, generous... which, if followed...

Gee, and what fuck-all has America been doing lately?

The world's not applauding, folks.

POSTSCRIPT: Who is China's equivalent of Lincoln in terms of a historical figure abused for political capital? Mao would be the easy answer, but at least he was 30 percent wrong. Lincoln is American politics' version of goddamn Mother Theresa.