Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) was a guest on ABC's This Week October 1, with George Stephanopoulos.  Here is an excerpt from the "This Week" transcript, with Stephanopoulos asking Sanders about  his Medicare-for-all views.

STEPHANOPOULOS: You have got more than a dozen Democrats now supporting your Medicare for all plan in the Senate. You're campaigning hard all across the country.

Two quick questions, how do you respond to those who say you're pulling the party too far to the left? And is it fair to say given your activities, you're not ruling out another run for president in 2020?

SANDERS: Well, let me just say that the idea of a Medicare for all, the idea that the United States of America should join every other major country on Earth in guaranteeing health care to every man, woman, and child, this is not a radical idea. In fact, poll after poll shows that a majority of the American people support that idea. People want to know why, as a nation, George, we are spending twice as much per capita on health care as the people of Canada or many of the European countries while our health care outcomes are not necessarily as good. And people also want to know why we pay by far the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs.

So, I don't see this as a radical idea. I see it as an idea that more and more people want. Medicare today is a very popular program. It's the most popular health insurance program in the country. Let's expand to it to everybody over a four year period.

Note the question from Stephanopoulos as to how Sanders would "respond to those who say you're pulling the party too far to the left[.]"  By "party," Stephanopoulos is clearly referring to the Democratic Party.  Yet, as recently as six months ago, Sanders, as reported in The Hill by Ben Kamisar, told MSNBC's Chris Hayes that he remains an "independent."  

Apparently, for Stephanopoulos, party affiliation – at least where Bernie Sanders is concerned – is no big deal.  If not Stephanopoulos, is there no one in the media to ask Bernie Sanders, "What does it say about the Democratic Party that you sought its presidential nomination but remain an independent, and that you continue to seek a leading role in the party, while remaining beyond its doors?"