Is Julian Castro ready to be president on day one?**

[Lyin' Steve]

He's not and Tim Kaine is.  Dead simple.

Julian Castro's experience was as a city council member from 2001-2009, a largely powerless mayor from 2009-2014 (he wasn't exactly Giuliani, folks), and a poor minor cabinet secretary since 2014.  He's also an overrated speaker.  Sounds too rehearsed.  His DNC speech didn't even make the news at the time, it's only now that the Latino vote is so important that people are going back to that speech and saying he's an amazing speaker, for lack of anything better to say.  He ain't Obama.  He ain't Rubio.  People don't even know who this guy is or what any of his ideas or political positions are beyond assuming he's a run-of-the-mill Democrat, and they're suggesting he should be ready to lead the country on day one?  If it's Clinton/Castro vs. Rubio/Portman then Castro's going to look really pathetic next to Rubio, who has five years in the Senate under his belt in addition to his considerable state-wide experience in Florida.  Remember, Castro doesn't even have state-level experience.  He's a city politician who got elevated to a minor cabinet post.  That's all he is.

Kaine, on the other hand, has a first-rate political pedigree, excellent retail skills, no scandals, tremendous intelligence and ability, and was the runner-up to be Obama's VP in 2008.  The man has been ready to be president on day one for years and he's a star for the Democrats.  Cut the identity politics and give the man his damn VP slot already.

[Lyin' Steve]

He's no Joe Biden, but he certainly ain't Sarah Palin either. Castro is smart and comes across as both personable and intelligent. Every interview I have seen him in, he clearly knew what he was talking about. Is he ready to be President? Who knows. Out of the Vice Presidents who have ascended to the Presidency, I think only two of them (Johnson, perhaps Ford) would've been universally recognized as being "ready for the job." It's kind of a bogus question to ask, unfortunately.

We will never truly know who is ready and who is not until they take the oath of office. Well, unless you're Sarah Palin. That said I don't think Castro is a great VP pick, but I don't think he is bad either. He's a fairly middle-of-the-road option assuming the vetting process doesn't turn up any massive scandals.

This, minus the sexist teenager Palin bashing.

It's fast becoming a running gag around these parts, if it wasn't already, that anyone who speaks ill of various widely disliked political women (Fiorina, Palin, DWS, Hillary) is a sexist teenager.

[Lyin' Steve]

I challenge anyone to make an actual case for why Julian Castro is ready to be president on day one or what a Castro presidency would look like.  The only argument that's been made in this thread so far is that he's smart, well-spoken, and knows what he's talking about.  None of that speaks to his leadership abilities, his crisis-management skills, his judgment, his ability to project strength on the world stage, his ability to craft an agenda and push it through congress, or any of the other skills needed to actually do the damn job.

[Lyin' Steve]

Castro will be picked. Hilda Solis or Kaine wont be picked. Solis being a female, and Kaine voted for Fast Track. And a host of GOP govs represents Dem senators. Castro is 40 and excites y2k generation.

Does Castro actually excite the y2k generation?

[Lyin' Steve]

He's no Palin, but he's not ready yet.

Palin had executive experience on a state level, regardless of Alaska's population, so she was more qualified than he is. A state is a state is a state. A city is not a state.

Palin's two central issues, beyond her obnoxious personality, were that she had no experience with national- or global-level issues and she wasn't able to hold up under pressure and had a mental breakdown.
Castro not only has no experience with national- or global-level issues, other than his small tenure as HUD secretary, he has no experience with STATE-level issues.  And he has never demonstrated the ability to handle himself well in challenging situations or under pressure.  I don't think he's ever even been in a debate except for a show debate with state senator Dan Patrick that I can't find a video of.

[Lyin' Steve]

Totally unprepared and unqualified for prime time.

Would be an absolutely horrible choice.

Doesn't even speak Spanish.

Would be like today's equivalent of Agnew, Quayle, Palin.

Quayle and Agnew were qualified.

Not so much.  Not like Cheney, Lieberman, Biden.

Agnew, Quayle, Palin were political lightweights, whereas Cheney, Lieberman, Biden had plenty of gravitas.

I agree that Agnew and Quayle arent the level of Lieberman, Biden or Cheney. But they also arent Palin or Castro.

Castro as VP is intellectually insulting.

I agree with this.
Agnew was kind of an Obama/Cruz figure, an exciting first-term governor who inspired the base.  Even Palin had soaring popularity ratings and was widely thought to be an excellent politician, although Alaska is pretty easy to govern (clearly) and her biggest claimed success, stopping the bridge to nowhere, was a lie.  Pre-vet, she looked like a great choice.
We can see without vetting him that Castro is not qualified to be president of the United States.  Having him stand next to Clinton will only further accentuate that, i.e. she's the secretary of state, and I wouldn't be surprised if he's never even left the country.