Ben Barnes never has been popular in Texas. Give us credit for recognizing this flim-flam jerk for the AH he is.
Barnes was so popular in the 1960s that people in TX would engage you in a fistfight if you said he was overrated. His fall from grace in 1972 was a result of the Sharpstown bank scandal, which also unrailed the career of Governor Smith and sitting Speaker Mutscher.