Went digging for what might be the origin of the joke. SAHL BACK IN U.S. WITH MORE BITE (1986) https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1986-10-09-860316024

Went digging for what might be the origin of the joke. SAHL BACK IN U.S. WITH MORE BITE (1986) https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1986-10-09-8603160248-story.html https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1986-10-09-860316... And what is a liberal, according to [Mort] Sahl? Well, he offered a nice definition at one point, saying that if the Reagan-Gorbachev summit broke down and the worst eventually took place, the headline in the Washington Post the next day would read: 'Nuclear Holocaust; World Ends; Women and Minorities Hit Hardest.' ... His real quarrel is with what he sees as the cynical manner in which the American political landscape has been divided up in our time--so that a 'liberal Left' that doesn't deserve the label can engage in self-serving mock combat with a bogyman 'Right.' Or as Sahl puts it, 'The liberals always settle for singing; the Republicans just want to run the banks.'