Former Visiting Fellow John French (spring 2007) was quoted in a New York Times article titled "Brazil’s President Lula Is Staging a Comeback. Can He Bring the Country Along?" In the article, French explains the new popularity of the former president of Brazil partly can be explained by the willingness of citizens to look past his crimes, with a notion now that corruption and scandal are just part of politics.
“If you assume everybody is corrupt, the question is who really cares about you? Who feels for you? Who’s capable of doing something for you, something concrete?” he was quoted as saying.