"Bernie Sanders Has Always Sacrificed Pragmatism For Idealism, But Now Its Hurting Democrats"

[DanTex]

60. I believe that he has sacrificed pragmatism for idealism, yes.

If you look at his record of legislative accomplishments, it's pretty short. Yes, he voted with the Dems in the important votes, but he was not at the forefront of crafting legislation that could get through congress. Instead he has spent his time pushing things like single payer that never had any chance of getting anywhere.

And selling the ideas rather than the party, as you put it, is also an example of putting idealism ahead of pragmatism. The pragmatic reality is that the Democratic Party is the only avenue through which anything progressive can be accomplished. And the author has a very good point when he says it's hard to credibly be trying to convince people to become Democrats when Bernie doesn't become a Democrat himself. Not to mention that he frequently bashes the Democratic Party.

And it has to be said, the way he handled the end of his primary campaign wasn't pragmatic at all. First, he held on until long after it was impossible for him to win. And then the way he ended his campaign resulted in many delegates openly booing at the convention. I'm not saying he is entirely responsible for that. But he has to take a part of it, after all, the people booing were yelling his name.