Biden butchers lines from Lincoln's inaugural address - then jokes about his age after telling audience: 'I wanna get this quote exactly right'

President Joe Biden, 81, was heard struggling deliver his speech clearly as he attempted to quote Abraham Lincoln at the Governors Ball Dinner.

Before a crowd of state leaders, the president, who is currently in cycle ahead of the November election, began to read off of a prepared document a quotation by the 16th president on the subject of a divided nation.

'Standing here in front of this portrait of the man behind me,' Biden said positioned directly in front of a portrait of Abe.

'I want to make sure I get the quote exactly right,' said Biden before the trouble began.

'He said, “We - the better angels” - he said, “We must address the counsel - and adjust the better angels of our nature.” And we do the - and we do well to remember what else he said. 

'He said, “We’re not enemies, but [we’re] friends.” This is in the middle of - this is in the - in the part of the Civil War. He said, “We’re not enemies, but [we’re] friends. We must not be enemies,' said Biden before the silent crowd.

Before a crowd of state leaders, the president, who is currently in cycle ahead of the November election, began to read off of a prepared document a quotation by the 16th president on the subject of a divided nation

Biden presumably meant to be offering his audience one of the most famous quotations from Lincoln's first inaugural address in March of 1861.

'I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. 

'The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature,' said Lincoln on March 4, 1861.

Biden also referred to the sentiment of Lincoln that he failed to coherently deliver as having been originally voiced 'in the middle of' the Civil War.

The war began in April of 1861, more than a month after Lincoln's first inaugural, meaning the current president may need to brush up on his history, as well as his delivery. 

One beat after the jarringly garbled reference to Lincoln, Biden made a joke about his age, though not in relation to what had just come out of his mouth.

'Folks - and I’ve been around. I know I don’t look it. I’ve been around a long while though,' he said to tepid laughter.

'And I mean this sincerely, we’ve gotten - politics has gotten too bitter - Democrats and Republicans. Politics has gotten too personally - and it just is - it’s just not like it was.'

One beat after the jarringly garbled reference to Lincoln, Biden made a joke about his age, though not in relation to what had just come out of his mouth

A vast majority of American voters – 86 percent – say President Joe Biden, 81, is too old for another term in office, according to a new poll.

Meanwhile, 62 percent of respondents in the ABC News/Ipsos poll say that former President Donald Trump, 77, is also too old for another White House term.

Fifty-nine percent of respondents say that both top 2024 competitors are too old while 27 percent think only the current president is elderly enough to be taken out of consideration.

When taking into consideration only their own party's preferences, 73 percent of Democrats think Biden is too old and only 35 percent of Republicans think that about Trump.

Ninety-one percent of independents say Biden is too old and 71 percent of this voting block say the same about the former president.

Those results come after the DOJ released a report revealing his assessment that Biden has 'poor memory' and 'diminished facilities' and would therefore not recommend charges in the classified documents case, so he wouldn't appear before a jury the same way he did before Special Counsel Robert Hur.