Nice that you've set yourself up as an expert slime ball.
Lincoln was a politician. That means knowing what appeals to a given audience. It doesn't necessarily mean one is without principle. One has to get elected. That means winning over people with different views, rather than antagonizing them.
I wonder if a lot of the animosity towards Lincoln as a politician (or statesman, which is what we call successful politicians who've passed on) doesn't reflect the long one party heritage of the South. South Carolina was a one party state before the Civil War, and didn't even count the popular vote for president. Mississippi wasn't far behind as a monoparty state.
Was Reagan like that? Bush 43? No. What you saw in one speech you got the same the next day.
Lincoln was a slime ball.