The supposed icon of the “Spanish reconquest” actually spent much of his career defending Muslim kingdoms against their Muslim and Christian enemies

And so it was that when the armies of the two taifa kingdoms clashed at the Battle of Cabra in 1079, each was led by a detachment of Castilian knights. The commander of those supporting al-Mu’tamid was a seasoned warrior named Rodrigo de Vivar. When he routed ‘Abd Allah’s forces and their leader, his bitter enemy Garcia Ordoñez, the Muslim troops of the Sevelle acclaimed Rodrigo as al-sayyid (“lord,” in Arabic), which his Castilian countrymen imitated, calling him El Cid. The supposed icon of the “Spanish reconquest” actually spent much of his career defending Muslim kingdoms against their Muslim and Christian enemies.

B. Catlos, Kingdoms of faith (2018) 220

He’ll pass then, whereas Kennedy could never have passed them

One Senator did not share those feelings [that the South could block civil rights]. “Smarter than they are” though Richard Russell may have been – smarter than his opponents in the Senate – it was not other senators who were Russell’s real opponents now, but the new President, and Russell felt that would change everything. The Kennedy bills would be passed now, Russell told a friend. “He’ll pass then, whereas Kennedy could never have passed them.” (465)

R. Caro, The years of Lyndon Johnson, Volume 4: the passage of power (2012), 465

Senatorial power had been a coefficient of Presidential weakness

Senatorial power had been a coefficient of Presidential weakness, and for thirty years, Presidents had either like Grant, or indecisive, or simply cowed by the mighty Senate. But with the crack of the assassin’s gunshot that struck down McKinley, and, to the rage of Senator Mark Hanna, put “that dammed cowboy” Theodore Roosevelt in the White House, the era of weak Presidents was over.

R. Caro, The years of Lyndon Johnson, Volume 3: master of the senate (2002), 37

The people should have as little to do as may be about the government

Each state, the Framers decided, would be represented by only two senators; the first Senate of the United state consisted of just twenty-six men. Another was the most by which senators would be elected. When one of the Framers, James Wilson of Pennsylvanie, suggested that they be elected by the people, not a single member of the Convention rose to support him. “The people should have as little to do as may be about the government,” Roger Sherman declared. “They lack information and are constantly liable to be misled.” 

R. Caro, The years of Lyndon Johnson, Volume 3: master of the senate (2002), 9

His actual work load for an entire year ... totals approximately 4.6 minutes

And to undo another myth, rodeo is not cruel to animals. Compared to the arduous life of any 'using horse' on a cattle or dude ranch, a bucking horse leads the life of Riley. His actual work load for an entire year, i.e., the the amount of time he spends in the arena, totals approximately 4.6 minutes, and nothing done to him in the arena or out could in any way be called cruel.

G. Ehrlich, The solace of open spaces (1985), 126

If he's 'strong and silent' it's because there's probably no one to talk to

In our hellbent earnestness to romaniticise the cowboy we've ironically disesteemed his true character. If he's 'strong and silent' it's because there's probably no one to talk to. If he 'rides away into the sunset' it's because he's been on horseback since four in the morning moving cattle and he's trying, fifteen hours later, to get home to his family. If he's a 'rugged individualist' he's also part of a team: ranch work is team work and even the glorified open range cowboys of the 1880s rode up and down the Chisholm Trail in the company of twenty or thirty other riders.

G. Ehrlich, The solace of open spaces (1985), 63-4

How can I get that hand out of his pocket – so I can cut his balls off

Johnson told an assistant: “You know the difference between Hubert and me? When Hubert sits across from [Labour leader] Reuther and Reuther’s got that limp hand stuck in his pocket and starts talking … Hubert will sit there smiling away and thinking all the time, ‘How can I get his hand out of his pocket so I can shake it?’ When Reuther sits across from me,” Lyndon Johnson said, “I’m smiling and thinking all the time, ‘How can I get that hand out of his pocket – so I can cut his balls off !”

R. Caro, The years of Lyndon Johnson, Volume 3: master of the senate (2002), 459