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As a writer, let me explain why comedians can't make much fun of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC). It has to do with the nature of comedy itself, and what comedy tries to do. The trope people most right-wingers are grasping for is "Hubris," one of the most common in storytelling.
Hubris appears in lots of comedies, but Sienfeld WAS a hubris plot. Every episode, a character tried to improve their lot only to be slapped back to the status quo, and always due to their own obvious failings. It's the "obvious" part that makes it comic.
Comedy has only two legitimate targets: the powerful and the foolish. Mocking the powerful is "punching up"; the presumption is the powerful can take it, and done well it can highlight the contradictions, spreaking truth to power, between the powerful's words and deeds.
Mocking the foolish is "life lessons"; here, comedy tries to teach people to think hard about their own capabilities before trying something new and challenging. Seinfeld is full of fools: people whose reach exceeds their grasp, and who should know better.
Sarah Palin was was obviously out of her depth, obviously chosen as if to say, "See, we've got a woman too!" and obviously (and to this day!) oblivious to her own shortcomings. Yet she remains a figure of power, so mocking her is still "punching up."
Another writer's trope is the "two goals" trope: one short, one long-term. Sarah Palin's two goals were to (a) mock most Americans, (b) be a heartbeat away from the most powerful position on Earth. These goals conflict, and pursing the first crushed the second. That's comedy!
@AOC also has two goals: one, to represent the district which elected her with eyes open, and two, to secure a place in the Democratic establishment such that she can pull the Democrats further toward the center-left where most of America resides. These goals do not conflict.
Her district wants her to represent them. So she does! She's middle class, worked menial jobs and manual labor, but is educated and whip-clever, and her legislative agenda is meant to serve them, not some oligarch somewhere. She clearly has more keen wit than most congressfolk.
Meanwhile her district (and so say we all!) delights in her highlighting the contradictions of Congress. She's illuminated and communicated how the levers of power work, and who has access to them– mostly oligarchs. She advocates for policies that upset those people. Good!
She has ambition, but it's not at all certain that it's hubris. That's why it's hard to write comedy about AOC. There's nothing to make fun of. She's not powerful, and we know it. She's not foolish, and we know it. Attacks on her feel like "punching down."
The right tries so hard to find her saying stupid things, but what they show instead is a woman who clearly knows her economic history and the socio-economic patterns of successful hybrid systems like Germany, Norway, France, and Japan. She's learning the job, and we admire that.
When she's wrong, she admits it. When she changes her mind, she lays out the arguments that convinced her. Not only is she learning, she's also teaching US how things work. Man, does the oligarchy hate that.
This is why her recent Rorschach quote from Watchmen was so effective. Not only did it make nerd hearts beat loudly, it's true: the old, white, arrogant, unaware power structure is trapped in a room with a pissed-off hornet of a young, brown, ambitious, self-aware woman.
That's why you can't do stories around @AOC. There's no comic hook on which to hang a narrative. She may be witty and even whimsical. She's also deadly serious about her plans, and she seems competent enough to execute them. There's nothing funny about that.
