I think the guy being interviewed on the NPR show was a rescue worker after the WTC attacks who is in Sicko. He said somebody (possibly Giuliani) should ‘grow a pair of Abe Lincolns’. Okay, I know what he means. But what’s the etymology?
I’ve only seen the phrase “pair of Lincolns” as a joking version of “ten dollars” (i.e., two five-dollar bills) or “two cents” (as in, “Excuse my putting in my pair of Lincolns here, but…”). The connection, of course, is that both the five-dollar bill and the penny have Lincoln’s picture.
I would imagine that the speaker you’re quoting just unconsciously conflated the idioms “grow a pair” and “a pair of Abe Lincolns”. I don’t know of any other slang term that makes a five-dollar bill, a penny, or Lincoln himself synonymous with “ball” or “testicle”.
Well, let’s see… ‘Lincoln’ rhymes with ‘clinkin’’, which is a metallic sound that might be made by a pair of brass balls.
Conflation of idioms sounds reasonable.
PLEASE let it be that! I was having disturbing mental images featuring that beard…
Lincoln is also on the penny.
Pair of Abe Lincolns = two cents, or in the context of the OP, pennies (which is a euphemism for “balls” I’ve never heard before)
So, you’re suggesting British rhyming slang?
No, it’s the only thing I could think of that would link Lincoln with testicles.
ETA: The other thing I thought of was that Lincoln wore a stovepipe hat. A stovepipe hat is long, so it might be considered phallic. But ‘grow a pair of penises’ doesn’t make sense.
Did I miss a link to this?
I heard it on the radio.
Unless they’re intending to mean “grow two cents” as in ‘get a clue?’
Naaah
I’ve gotta’ think it’s a combination of “grow a pair” (that is, of balls, testicles, or your preferred nomenclature for male gonads) and the fact that Honest Abe had (in the pictures of him that are most famous today) a beard - grow some “short and curlies,” or pubes.
Translation - grow up, grow some hair on your balls, and be a man, dammit!
It’s the car, man!
I’m thinking Kimstu got it on the first reply.
But why “a pair” ? That doesn’t scan with “short and curlies”.
FTR, I heard this as well. It was on Democracy Now with Amy Goodman, which is not an NPR show, but is broadcast on a lot of NPR station. They also make NPR look like a bunch of right-wing, Bush-loving John Birchers. Hell, they probably make Air America look like that–their idea of having both sides of an issue represented is inviting Noam Chomski and Howard Zinn!
Great show, IOW. 
Wait… they actually do this? Like the whole Ocean’s 11 thing? “We’ll be in Barney… Rubble? TROUBLE!”