Such accidents can easily happen on an aircraft carrier. As BB said, naval aviation is a hazardous business. The incident is no reflection one way or another on the character of John McCain.

(The four Japanese aircraft carriers lost at Midway essentially died due to exactly the sort of chain-reaction damage suffered on the Forrestal...only in that case it was American dive bombers that caused the initial damage with their bombs, damage which cause huge fires and explosions which quickly spread and overwhelmed the damage control crews on those ships.)

My problem with John McCain has nothing to do with his war record. I just don't like his general attitude toward America's foreign policy, that's all. He has faith in certain generalities of policy that I have no faith in, therefore I would not vote for him.

I don't like Obama's attitude toward America's foreign policy much either, but I find it somewhat preferable to McCain's. I am skeptical that Obama really intends to withdraw America's troops for Iraq. I doubt it. The people who favor a foreign policy I agree with strongly are Dennis Kucinich and Ron Paul.

As for Barr, I don't know enough about his positions on foreign policy yet to have much of an opinion about it.