There is no excuse for the way the words "pragmatism" and "compromise" have been used this year.

[Ken Burch]

"Pragmatism" just means being willing to find the most effective way to get things done. We are ALL pragmatists.

"Compromise" just means meeting reasonable people halfway. We are ALL willing to do that.

Neither of those words were ever supposed to mean "give up, shut up, and check your dreams at the door".

They are meant to be words of reason, not words of coercion, arrogance, and an unjustified sense of superiority.

And the misuse of those words has done damage that will take years to undo.

Shame on anyone who used those words in the way they have been used this spring.

[JoePhilly]

1. More finger wagging and moralizng from the Sanders camp.

SHAME .... SHAME on the sinners!!!!

[Ken Burch]

2. No, just truth.

Words like "pragmatism" and "compromise" are never supposed to be used as a verbal club.

And we are about half the Democratic Party, so you're not entitled to talk down to us.

It is no crime to have strong principles, and no party should ever sneer at the principled.

[CrowCityDem]

3. The denigration of the word 'compromise' is why those Tea Party comparisons are being made.

[Scuba]

4. There's a difference between "compromise" and "capitulation" but the Third Way Crew has ...

... intentionally tried to use the former to describe the latter.

President Obama didn't compromise on Medicare for All to get us a Public Option as part of the ACA. Instead he capitulated and we got neither.

See the difference?

[Ken Burch]

5. Here's the distinction:

If you get 50% or more of what you want, it's compromise.

If you get less than 50%, it isn't compromise, it's just defeat.

It's simply never worth settling for LESS than 50%. You can't build anything on less than half of what you wanted.

[CrowCityDem]

6. 'Nothing' is rarely the best option.

[Ken Burch]

7. In the case of the '94 crime bill and VAWA, for example, it would have been.

VAWA was and is good legislation, but it was never worth signing off on mass incarceration and what became a police war against black America.

It's not worth getting less than half-a-loaf, if you half to spread poison on the slices.