Sen. Bernard Sanders said he is happy that Joseph R. Biden has come his way on some issues, but questioned the former vice president’s “courage” and “leadership.”

Mr. Sanders said in a debate Sunday that Mr. Biden is pledging to clean up some of the messes that he helped create by backing bad legislation, including a 2005 bankruptcy bill.

“I voted against it in the House and I was right, and I don’t have to rethink my position because that leadership is about - having the guts to take an unpopular vote,” Mr. Sanders said.

The Vermonter said he took hard voters when it mattered most, and staked out positions that were once unpopular, but have become so in vogue that people that Mr. Biden has finally come around.

“What leadership is about is about going forward when it is not popular,” Mr. Sanders said. “When it is an idea that you get criticized for.”

Mr. Sanders said that he voted against, and Mr. Biden voted for, the Defense of Marriage Act, the bankruptcy bill, the war in Iraq, trade deals that he says have hurt the economy, and the Hyde Amendment.

“It takes courage sometimes to do the right thing,” Mr. Sanders said. “The people of America know my record. For 30 years I have stood with the working families of this country.”

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