Not always, but in this Senate at this time.  Politics 101 mandates that if Sanders and a few other real Liberals wanted a stronger bill, they HAD to hold out.  Joe Lieberman held out and made the bill much, much weaker.  The moment Sanders made a decision that he had to support this bill no matter what, his negotiating leverage became nil, and he was walked all over by the Corporatists who had no qualms about playing hardball.

The only way that defines "pragmatism" is if Sanders was content enough to get the worst bill imaginable, just to put a Yes on Obama's desk.  Rahm Emanuel would be proud.

Kucinich has infinitely more cover--his vote is probably not the difference between 218 and 217, unlike Sanders' vote, which was clearly the difference between 59 and 60.  But Kucinich (apparently) at least knows when too little is too little.  No one would have un-elected him in his Ohio district for "caving" with the rest of the House to voting Yes.  He could have explained his vote sufficiently (not to mention that half his constituents would want him to vote Yes), but he ...really doesn't like the bill enough to sign off on it.  Good for him.  What kind of backbone does Sanders have?