Yes can we not make this another abortion thread?
Sarah Palin, left, posed with celebrity look-alike impersonator Cecilia Thompson during a tour of Boston's North End neighborhood today.
By Michael Levenson and John R. Ellement, Globe Staff
Even as she insisted that she was not trying to undermine Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign announcement today, Sarah Palin sharply criticized Romney’s universal health care law while touring historic sites on Romney’s home turf in Massachusetts
“In my opinion, any mandate coming from government is not a good thing,” Palin told reporters during a visit to the Bunker Hill Monument in Charlestown. The law will be one of the reasons that it “will be a big challenge” for Romney to appeal to Tea Party supporters.
“It’s tough for a lot of us independent Americans to accept [the mandate] because we have great faith in the private sector and our own families and our own business men and women making decisions for ourselves, not any level of government telling us what to do,’’ said Palin, who is a potential challenger to Romney for the Republican presidential nomination.
Earlier today, Palin jokingly tapped her first surrogate of the 2012 campaign – Cecilia Thompson, a Sarah Palin impersonator from the North Shore.
During a stop at the Old North Church in the North End this morning, Palin and Thompson briefly hugged and then the former Alaskan governor told Thompson what to do next.
“Now you go talk to all these reporters,’’ Palin said, laughing. “And you speak for me.’’
The impostor encounter took place as Palin toured the Freedom Trail with her 10-year-old daughter, Piper, her parents – and a contingent of reporters who have been following the potential GOP candidate during her One Nation tour.
At the Old North Church, Palin also encountered a group of fifth-graders from Waltham on a field trip who greeted her like a rock star, offering shouts of “we love you’’ as they jostled to have Palin sign their shirts, hats, or whatever else they could offer.
Palin also offered them signed copies of the US Constitution, which she is handing out to those she crosses paths with today in Boston.