'I See John Liu Here - He's Been the Little Asian Boy Running Around With Us a Long Time'

Can you imagine the uproar if a Republican uttered a racial slur such as this? All hell would break loose, the offender would be drummed out of office and left for dead in a smoldering pile, quivering and trembling, begging the NAACP and any other outraged group for forgiveness.

But in this case, the offender is a vile, nasty NAACP honcho, a woman with a long track record of bigoted, incendiary comments, so it's OK, I guess.

A top civil rights leader called Democratic controller nominee John Liu "the little Asian boy" who's been "running around" with the NAACP for years, as Liu poked a bit of fun at his own heritage on Saturday.

Speaking before the Rev. Al Sharpton's birthday party, Hazel Dukes noted that Liu - elected the city's first Asian-American councilman in 2001 - was on hand for the festivities.

"I see John Liu here - he's been the little Asian boy running around with us a long time [in] the NAACP," Dukes, president of the NAACP New York State Conference, warmly said to laughter during Sharpton's weekly radio broadcast. "But Rev. [Sharpton], he was a good guy, so we said, 'Come on, come on, come on - we can make you what you want to be,'" Dukes continued to more chuckles and applause as Liu, 42, sat on the stage with a bemused smile.

The Taiwan-born, Queens-bred Liu, who came to the United States with his family at age 5, won the Sept. 15 primary and later defeated rival Councilman David Yassky (D-Brooklyn) in the Sept. 29 runoff. Liu enjoyed strong support from the Asian-American community and other ethnic minority voters.

However, he has stressed that he never meant to be the first Asian elected to the Council and has reached out to New Yorkers of all backgrounds in his bid to become controller.

Liu apparently was not overly concerned with Dukes' comments. His spokeswoman said he "is a lifetime member of the NAACP. He has a great relationship with its leadership and many other prominent civil rights leaders."

Of course, let's just see how long it takes for Liu, Sharpton and Dukes to cry raaaaacism once he's criticized for his job performance.

It should give New Yorkers pause to consider who Liu has be "running around" with, considering he was basically installed in office by the Working Families Party and ACORN.

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