Ralph Nader: Obama Is A ‘War Criminal’, Romney A ‘Corporation Masking As Human'

Ralph Nader, a six-time U.S. presidential candidate, on Tuesday delivered some harsh criticisms of both President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney in an interview with Politico.

Nader, who ran for president with the Green Party in 2000 and as an independent in 2004, told Politico that though Obama’s foreign policy is worse than that of former President George W. Bush, he is the lesser and “more effective” evil when compared to Romney.

According to Nader, Obama is worse than Bush, because he is “more aggressive, more illegal worldwide.”

“He’s run an even worse criminal and constitutionally insupportable military and foreign policy,” Nader said. “He’s gone beyond George W. Bush in drones, for example. I mean he thinks the world is his plate. National sovereignties mean nothing. Drones can go anywhere. They can kill anybody that he suspects and every Tuesday he makes the call on who lives and who dies, supposed suspects in places like Yemen and Pakistan and Afghanistan, and that is a war crime and he ought to be called into account.”

Nader said this happens because Congress has “turned itself into an inkblot” and is not asserting its own constitutional authority.

“Only Congress can appropriate money, authorize money and declare a war,” he said. “In the Libyan attack they did none of these. They didn’t even have a war resolution. Never before in American history has Congress so abdicated its constitutional responsibilities, and it is in favor of a president that talks constitutional law, if you want another irony.”

Nader isn't running for president this year and from the interview it seems that at 78, he may have retired from that field. But that didn’t stop him from speaking frankly on the candidates.

Nader did offer some praise to Obama, though, for his push toward renewable energy and for a jobs bill the Republicans shot down.

As for the Republican candidate, Nader said Romney is not himself any more.

“He’s not the old Romney, governor of Massachusetts. He’s had a character and personality makeover,” Nader said. “He’s just bought into the extreme right wing of the Republican Party, represented by Paul Ryan, and I don’t think he’s going to be able to shake that. He’s basically a corporation running for president masquerading as a human being.”

And if the Republican won, Nader said this could be spell trouble for America.

“I think the country is really in trouble,” Nader said, drawing on Romney's career at Bain Capital. “How can he become president of the United States if he doesn’t reveal his tax returns? It is such a simple thing. … I think it is a winning issue.”

Romney has said he hasn’t paid below 13 percent in taxes for the last decade, but hasn't revealed his tax returns for more than the past two years. He also recently released his 2011 tax return showing a payment of 14.1 percent of his income in taxes.

‘Decaying Democrats Dealing With Worst Republicans In History’

Nader said the Republicans should be “landslided” by the Democrats but said that won’t happen and the Republicans might keep their majority in the House.

“They are the worst Republican Party in history,” Nader told Politico. “We’re dealing with a real sick, decaying Democratic Party that can’t defend the country against the cruelest, most ignorant, most anti-worker, most war-mongering, most Wall Street–indentured Republican Party in its history, since the 1850s.”

Watch the Politico interview below: