By

Sarah Huisenga /

CBS News/ July 9, 2012, 6:16 PM

Romney all business about picking cabinet

(CBS News) Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said Monday that he would fill his Cabinet with people with private sector experience, like himself, drawing a contrast with President Obama's preference for Cabinet secretaries with government backgrounds.

In an interview with nationally syndicated conservative talk show host Michael Medved, Romney said, "It would be a very different lineup than the president has assembled. His team is almost entirely void of anyone with any experience in the business sector, (who) understands how the economy works. I will assuredly have members of my team who will have experience in the real world, in the private sector. My Cabinet will not be filled with academics and politicians alone."

Romney indicated he already has people in mind but offered no names, saying a number of them are currently employed and "they wouldn't appreciate having their employers think they're going."

Asked about his tax plan on a day that Obama was campaigning on a proposal to raise taxes on households earning over $250,000, Romney said that in his first year in office, he would lower taxes for individuals and small businesses while limiting tax breaks for high income-earners as a way of keeping government revenues at a level necessary to fund the government.

His plan, he said, "keeps revenue coming in by limiting some of the deductions and exemptions, particularly for people at the high-income level, so we can keep the progressivity of the code. ... Get our rates down, encourage growth, business startups and expansions, (that) mean jobs for middle-income Americans."

The interview was one of several media appearances scheduled for Romney this week. In an interview with the "John Fredericks Morning Show" in Virginia, scheduled to air on Tuesday, Romney called Obama's proposal to renew the Bush-era tax cuts for income-earners under $250,000 "a massive tax increase on job creators and on small business."

He added, "Small businesses are overwhelmingly being taxed, not at a corporate rate, but at the individual tax rate. So successful small businesses will see their taxes go up dramatically and that will kill jobs. That will be another kick in the gut to the middle class in America. We just saw a terrible jobs report, just last week, and now to add a higher tax on job creators and on small business is about the worst thing I could imagine to do."

Also during the interview, Romney suggested that Obama's health care overhaul, which was upheld by the Supreme Court on June 28, is designed to be the first step toward a government-run system.

"The president said, before he was elected, that it was his objective to have a single-payer system. I think that's where he would like to go," he said. "My own view is that if Obamacare were allowed to stand ... you would see down the road private insurance getting squeezed out, and ultimately a call for a government insurance plan or a government insurance program of some kind. And ultimately it would take a lion's share of the health market."

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    Sarah Huisenga is covering the Mitt Romney campaign for CBS News and National Journal.

18 Comments Add a Comment
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Pence666 says:
I think Romney's cabinet would look something like this... http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/mt/assets/politics/Mitt%20Romney%20bain%20capital.jpg
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Pence666 says:
I think Romney's cabinet would look something like this... http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/mt/assets/politics/Mitt%20Romney%20bain%20capital.jpg
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112844 says:
I've said it before and I'll keep on saying it.

MITT"TRICKY DICKY II"ROMNEY
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WHAT-IS-HE-SMOKING says:
Yep, can see it now:
Mitty: "So Koch brothers, which departments do you want to rape, I mean run"
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KPeters_from_UK replies:
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A majority of Romney's campaign staff are directly from W Bush's administration. If he wins, it will prove to be a repeat of 2000 - 2008.
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retmw2 says:
A whole cabinet of morman bishops, that should work out well.
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KPeters_from_UK replies:
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jgg000010,
When did that happened? Oh wait......... you have no idea what those ism's actually mean.
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1term-done says:
It's amazing how two men both went to a highly prestigious college can be so opposite. Character does count-and I'm glad to see a new face come into office.
Romney will help heal allot of wounds foreign and domestic besides start to get us financially back on track.
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calif7 replies:
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Obama has the country crawling out the huge hole Bush put us in, both in foreign and domestic affairs. Romney will push us back down to the bottom. Romney and his supporters will laugh all the way to the bank.
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djt3175 says:
How great will it be to have such a successful businessman as our president! This is exactly what the U.S. so badly needs, experience to actually help the economy.
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GeorgiaModerate replies:
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You do realize buisness experience doesn't help as President. Do you know who had buisness experience as Pres? Herbert Hoover, Jimmy Carter, and George W. Bush all had buisness experience and provided over horrible economies, and two of them lost in landslides. But Bill Clinton, Ronaald Reagan, Lyndon Johnson, Dwight Eisenhower, and Franklin Roosevelt NEVER worked in the private sector, EVER. And they are remembered for great economic peacetime expansions, and pulling us through the Great Depression (DURING A BUISNESSMAN's TERM).
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American_overseas says:
Are all mormons above poverty-line so arrogant that they count the chicks before even hatched ???
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badboymoviestar says:
If Romney wins this election, it will be because of his sheer number of dollars.

What does that tell the rest of us?

Washington can be bought and sold to the highest bidder every 4 years.
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djt3175 replies:
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If Romney wins the election it will be because people are smart enough to realize that Obama is killing this country! Experience is needed!!!!
KPeters_from_UK replies:
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dijt,
It is because of the millions and millions poured into the Romney campaign by the likes of the Koch Brothers.
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33maxwell says:
He should try coming up with a cohesive platform to run on before he wastes any more energy measuring the drapes.
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1term-done replies:
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LOL. Sit back and drink some more coffee. Don't be in a rush. Romney is not someone who gives in to pressure. There is method to his madness. I believe it's all about timing.
When it get's closer -maybe after (or at) the convention he'll open up more.
He already knows what his plans are--it's when is it the right time to share.
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