Other than his plane being ordered spotted in the impact area of the rocket, McCain had nothing to do with the cause of the carrier fire or the outcome. That said I have no use for him due to his actions in elected office. The Forestall fire was a tragedy and shouldn’t be used to incorrectly smear McCain. Look at the spotting chart about half way down on the right. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1967_USS_Forrestal_fire
Crashes were handled a lot different back then. The worst year for F-100 crashes was 1958, with 116 jets destroyed and 47 pilots killed.