Riding the line between energizing conservatives and attracting moderates and independents this election year continues to prove difficult for John McCain.

In its latest email to supporters a leading social conservative group, the Family Research Council, is taking issue with recent, contradictory statements out of the McCain campaign on gay adoption and calling on the GOPer to stand by the “traditional family unit.”

In an interview late last week with the New York Times, McCain said he opposed gay adoption, adding that “I think that we’ve proven that both parents are important in the success of a family, so, no, I don’t believe in gay adoption.” While the stance may be controversial to gay voters and some liberals, he curries some favor with a larger group social conservatives he needs to energize for November.

But wait.

The campaign then issued a clarifying statement to blogger Andrew Sullivan, stating that McCain believes gay adoption is a state issue but added that “as an adoptive father himself, McCain believes children deserve loving and caring home environments, and he recognizes that there are many abandoned children who have yet to find homes. McCain believes that in those situations that caring parental figures are better for the child than the alternative.”

The FRC, led by Tony Perkins, is now alleging the statement “muddies the waters,” and warns in an email sent to supporters Tuesday night that the McCain camp “should not fall into this ‘lady or the tiger’ trap and should emphasize the need to rebuild the natural family.”

Email after jump…

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GREENDALE, WI — McCain hit Obama again today on not visiting Iraq since early 2006 at a townhall meeting near Milwaukee in addition to sending out a fundraising appeal to supporters focused on the issue.

“Senator Obama, because I raised it, says now he is quote, considering going. Well I said I would go with him he doesn’t want to do that that’s OK, that’s OK with me. But the point is that he needs to go and he needs to go soon,” McCain said near the top of his remarks today before more than 1,000 Badger State voters.

The campaign also sent out a fundraising appeal Thursday questioning Obama’s judgment and leadership.

“Something is wrong with your judgment when you want to sit down unconditionally with Raul Castro and Iran’s President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, but you don’t take the opportunity to sit down with General Petraeus and learn about the situation in Iraq firsthand. My friends, this is not the “change” we need in our next president,” McCain wrote in the email.

FULL EMAIL AFTER JUMP

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BEVERLY HILLS, CA — While he is typically more accessible to the press than his rivals on the campaign trail, Sen. McCain said Wednesday that his fundraisers will remain closed to the media.

“It’s because the people who are…raising the money request that. And I will continue to be accessible, and the most accessible campaign in history to the media,” McCain told reporters today, but not before bringing up Obama’s infamous “bitter” comments, which the Democrat originally uttered at a private fundraiser of his own. “I’d also like to say I do not say in my, during fundraisers comments like the people in Pennsylvania being bitter and angry and turn against their religion and the Constitution because of their economic conditions. I say the same thing in fundraisers and closed events as I do in open events.”

But Bloomberg’s Hans Nichols pushed for proof of this consistent message asking, “are we just supposed to take your word for it?”

“If you want to. If you want to. You don’t have to,” McCain shot back.

The presumptive Republican nominee’s fundraisers have come under increased scrutiny after he held a private event with President Bush Tuesday, where both men reportedly spoke to attendees. While McCain often offers reporters hours more of Q and A time each week compared to his opponents, he keeps all fundraisers off limits while Sens. Obama and Clinton both allow a representative from the media to cover money events at public venues.

BEVERLY HILLS, CA — After learning that Sen. Obama is planning a trip to Iraq, Sen. McCain continued to rap the Democrat for a “fundamental misunderstanding of the gravity” of traveling to the region, but added that he is “confident” a trip to Iraq will convince his anti-war rival that victory is possible.

“I certainly was…glad to hear that Senator Obama is now quote ‘considering’ a trip to Iraq. It’s long overdue. It’s been 871 days since he was there,” McCain said at a nearly 30 minute media availability Wednesday afternoon, after slamming Obama on the issue at an earlier town hall in Nevada. “I’m confident that when he goes he will then change his position on the conflict in Iraq because he will see the success that has been achieved on the ground…Presidents have to listen and learn. Presidents have to make judgments no matter how unpopular or popular they may be. So the success in Iraq is undeniable.”

Asked if he would have more respect for Obama’s position on the war even if the IL Senator were to travel to the region but remain convinced the U.S. has to begin troop withdrawals, McCain maintained his unlikely assertion that Obama will ’see the light’ on Iraq.

“The facts on the ground, I’m sure would convince any objective observer. That’s why I say that I’m encouraged that he’s going because the facts on the ground are very, very clear. The statistics are there. Facts are facts,” McCain told reporters. “And I’m confident that he would certainly…recognize that this strategy is succeeding, and we have drawn down troops to the pre-surge level and we will come home with honor and victory and there will be stability in the region and that will make for a long term benefit to the United States and our national security interests.”

In telling the New York Times today that he was considering a trip to Iraq, Obama added that he would likely travel to the region on his own while calling the McCain proposal for a joint-trip a “political stunt.”

The GOPer did not take kindly to that characterization today. (video above)

“That is again a result of Senator Obama’s lack of appreciation of the importance of this issue. My friend, 4,000, more than 4,000 brave young Americans have given their lives. To say that, that my urging a person who wants to be President of the United States to go to Iraq for the first time in 871 days and see the situation for himself and to call that a publicity stunt is a fundamental misunderstanding of the gravity of this issue…and again a lack of judgment about how important this issue…and frankly, I don’t think that people who serve there would believe that a visit to find out the facts by a person who wants to lead the country would be a quote, ‘stunt.’”

Per FNC’s Bonney Kapp, Obama spoke to reporters aboard his plane tonight where he said GOP attacks over the frequency of his visits to Iraq are “diversions.”

“I don’t think that John McCain or the Bush administration have a very strong argument to make about their foreign policy so they’re gonna try to come up with diversions or distractions and not argue the substance,” Obama said Wednesday night.

PHOENIX, AZ — It was short and sweet. Really short in fact.

After accompanying President Bush to the airport after a closed fundraiser Tuesday afternoon, Sen. McCain saw off the Commander in Chief on the tarmac at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.

It was the first time McCain and Bush have been seen publicly together since the presumptive GOP nominee visited the White House on March 5, but if you turned away you might have missed it as the two were on the tarmac together for only 26 seconds and within camera shot for a total of 47 seconds.

The McCain campaign was clearly trying to limit public time with the President–whose disapproval rating stands at 71 percent–as the goodbye did not take place until 9pm ET, hours after the nightly newscasts signed off.

Upon arrival at the airport, the Senator, Mrs. McCain and President Bush all exited the same limo and walked toward the plane. Bush and Sen. McCain each waved and pointed to the assembled press under the plane’s left wing before McCain gave him a hearty handshake and a pat on the back. Bush kissed Mrs. McCain on the cheek before climbing the stairs to Air Force One.

Behind closed doors however, they spent more than hour at a fundraiser where Bush helped McCain net about $3 million according to sources familiar with the event. Among the more than 500 donors at the private home in the Phoenix suburbs was former Vice President Dan Quayle.

The Phoenix haul brings McCain’s Tuesday cash total to $4.5 million—he raised $1.5 million at an earlier fundraiser in Denver. Per usual, the funds will be channeled to a number of different accounts including the RNC Victory fund, several state Republican parties and McCain’s primary fund. Bush will continue raising money for McCain Wednesday in Utah where he is set to attend two events with Mitt Romney, while the presumptive nominee campaigns in Reno and Los Angeles.

Sen. Obama and Democrats who have been trying to lump McCain in with Bush whenever possible tried to make hay out the closed fundraiser earlier today.

“Today, John McCain is having a different kind of meeting. He’s holding a fundraiser with George Bush behind closed doors in Arizona. No cameras. No reporters. And we all know why. Senator McCain doesn’t want to be seen, hat in hand, with the president whose failed policies he promises to continue for another four years,” Obama told a Nevada crowd today.

The McCain campaign’s Tucker Bounds responded with this statement that rides the fine line of differentiating himself from the White House with out being seen as disrespectful.

“Whether the issue is global climate change or urging a more effective strategy in Iraq, John McCain has had clear but respectful differences of opinion with the President. However, it isn’t surprising that Barack Obama is trying to disguise his own lack of depth and weak leadership on the issues with political generalizations and superficial attacks,” Bounds said.

ALBUQUERQUE, NM — Sen. John McCain used a Memorial Day speech before a friendly audience to defend two politically unpopular positions he has staked out on veterans benefits and the war in Iraq.

The presumptive GOP nominee first stood by his opposition to the Jim Webb GI bill, which offers college tuition to servicemen after three years, arguing that it will hurt military retention and instead talking up his less generous bill that seeks to reward troops on a graduated scale based on their length of service. McCain has been taking heat from Sen. Obama and others for opposing the veterans legislation, which passed the Senate last week by an overwhelming margin.

McCain shot back today, saying he would take a “backseat to no one” in his commitment to the troops, adding that “by hurting retention we will reduce the numbers of men and women who we train to become the backbone of all the services, the noncommissioned officer.”

“At a time when the United States military is fighting in two wars, and as we finally are beginning the long overdue and very urgent necessity of increasing the size of the Army and Marine Corps, one study estimates that Senator Webb’s bill will reduce retention rates by 16 percent,” McCain told more than 1,000 New Mexicans at an event commemorating Memorial Day.

McCain also used the occasion to defend the need to maintain troops in Iraq until the country is stabilized and though he did not mention Sen. Obama by name, he rebuked those who support withdrawal from Iraq.

“We must give General Petraeus and the Americans he has the honor to command adequate time to salvage from the wreckage of our past mistakes a measure of stability for Iraq and the Middle East, and a more secure future for the American people,” McCain added. “To walk away now — before the Iraqi government can fully protect its people from ruthless enemies — would strengthen al Qaeda, empower Iran and other hostile powers in the Middle East, unleash a full scale civil war in Iraq that could quite possibly provoke genocide there, and destabilize the entire region as neighboring powers come to the aid of their favored factions. The consequences would threaten us for years, and I am certain would eventually draw us into a wider and more difficult war that would impose even greater sacrifices on us.”

STOCKTON, CA — McCain smirked and quickly denied that he plans on vetting any potential running mates this weekend.

“It’s just having a group of friends for Memorial Day weekend to visit us and enjoy one of the most beautiful places in America. It’s no more and it’s no less. I wanna assure you,” he told reporters.

McCain will be hosting at least 10 couples this weekend at his Sedona ranch including much talked VP candidates including Charlie Crist, Bobby Jindal and Mitt Romney. Among planned activities include hiking, fishing and a bbq for all invited guests on Saturday.

STOCKTON, CA — So who is making age an issue now? While his campaign took great offense to Senator Obama’s subtle jab at the GOPers age a couple weeks ago, Sen. McCain decided to instead make Obama’s youth a campaign issue Thursday.

“I admire and respect Senator Obama. For a young man with very little experience, he’s done very well. So I appreciate-with his very, very great lack of experience and knowledge of the issues, he’s been very successful,” McCain said to laughter from the more than 500 supporters gathered at an airport hangar rally Thursday afternoon. “So, don’t get me wrong-I admire and respect Senator Obama, but he does not have the knowledge, background or judgment to lead this nation in these difficult and challenging times and I do. And I can keep this nation prosperous and secure.”

The dig at Obama, 46, echoes a similar line President Reagan used during a 1984 presidential debate when he defered a question about his age by reversing the issue on his younger opponent, Walter Mondale.

“I want you to know that also I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit for political purposes my opponent’s youth and inexperience,” Reagan joked. “If it was not for the elders correcting the mistakes of the young, there would be no state.”

McCain, who turns 72 in August, will be the oldest president ever elected to a first term in office. When Obama said during a CNN interview earlier this month that McCain was “losing his bearings,” the Republican’s senior adviser Mark Salter issued a strong statement condemning the Democrat.

“He used the words ‘losing his bearings’ intentionally, a not particularly clever way of raising John McCain’s age as an issue. This is typical of the Obama style of campaigning,” Salter wrote in a memo. “We have all become familiar with Senator Obama’s new brand of politics. First, you demand civility from your opponent, then you attack him, distort his record and send out surrogates to question his integrity. It is called hypocrisy, and it is the oldest kind of politics there is.”

Union City, CA — After taking heat for nearly three months for receiving the endorsement of Pastor John Hagee, John McCain took the final step Thursday and completely rejected the support from the controversial evangelical leader.

Reacting to comments unearthed this week in which the pastor said Adolf Hitler was fulfilling God’s will by carrying out the Holocaust because it hastened the creation of Israel and the return of Jews to their homeland, McCain was forced to completely break his ties.

“Obviously, I find these remarks and others deeply offensive and indefensible, and I repudiate them. I did not know of them before Reverend Hagee’s endorsement, and I feel I must reject his endorsement as well,” McCain said in a written statement issued by his press office–also getting in a slight dig on Obama and his relationship with his controversial pastor. “I have said I do not believe Senator Obama shares Reverend Wright’s extreme views. But let me also be clear, Reverend Hagee was not and is not my pastor or spiritual advisor, and I did not attend his church for twenty years. I have denounced statements he made immediately upon learning of them, as I do again today. “

The split appears to be mutual, as Hagee released his own statment this afternoon “withdrawing” his endorsement, noting that he fears that his comments have “become a distraction in what should be a national debate about important issues.”

“Ever since I endorsed John McCain for president, people seeking to attack Senator McCain have combed my records for statements they can use for political gain. They have had no qualms about grossly misrepresenting my position on issues most near and dear to my heart if it serves their political ambitions,” Hagee said in a recent paper statement. “I am tired of these baseless attacks and fear that they have become a distraction in what should be a national debate about important issues. I have therefore decided to withdraw my endorsement of Senator McCain for President effective today, and to remove myself from any active role in the 2008 campaign. I hope that the Senator McCain will accept this withdrawal so that he may focus on the issues that are most important to America and the world.”

Hagee’s Hitler comments are only the latest in a litany of controversial statements brought to light in recent months since McCain first received the endorsement from the controversial pastor. Hagee has also blamed Hurricane Katrina on the sins of New Orleans residents and called the Catholic Church the “great whore.”

McCain has repeatedly condemned specific incendiary Hagee remarks during the last three months but defended his endorsement, often praising the pastor’s support for Israel, and consistently stated that accepting his endorsement did not mean he also approved of the pastor’s views. When he was recently confronted with Hagee’s Katrina remarks, he called them “nonsense” nine times, but still said he was not ready to repudiate his endorsement

“It’s nonsense. I don’t have anything more to say about that. Of course–I apologize for that. It’s nonsense. I reject that categorically and I would point out there’s a lot of people who have endorsed me. They support my views. That does not mean that I support (their views),” McCain told reporters April 24 during a trip to New Orleans. “Would I consider repudiating his endorsement? I certainly condemn those parts of his remarks. I continue to appreciate his support for the state of Israel and for many of the good things that he and his church has done. But I repudiate as strongly as possible those remarks and those of the Catholic church as well.”

McCain campaign advisers have admitted that they failed to adequately vet Hagee before accepting his endorsement prior to the Texas primary–which was viewed at the time as an important pickup for the GOP candidate as he sought to bring aboard support from the Christian right.

IRVINE, CA — While John McCain is hosting a number of potential running mates and their wives this weekend at his vacation home in Sedona, AZ, the campaign tells Fox that the gathering is not related to the VP search.

The presumptive GOP nominee is hosting 10 couples at his home this holiday weekend for a BBQ, including LA Gov. Bobby Jindal, FL Gov. Charlie Crist and former rival Mitt Romney–all names being thrown around as potential running mates. But other McCain friends and confidantes will be on the guest list as well, including SC Sen. Lindsey Graham.

A McCain adviser calls the weekend gathering “purely social,” and says no VP vetting is on the agenda.

McCain completes his week of campaigning and fundraising Thursday in Stockton, CA and is scheduled to fly to Sedona tomorrow night.

A spokesperson for Jindal confirms the Governor’s weekend visit, adding that he plans to discuss “issues important to the future growth of Louisiana.”

“Governor Bobby Jindal and First Lady Supriya Jindal are going to Arizona for the Memorial Day weekend to spend time with Senator John McCain and Cindy McCain at their ranch. The Governor has met with the Senator many times before and discussed the challenges facing the Gulf Coast region as communities continue to rebuild,”said Jindal spokeswoman Melissa Sellers. ” The Governor looks forward to joining Senator McCain and his other guests this weekend, and he values this as another opportunity to meet with a national leader, and the potential next President of the United States, to discuss issues important to the future growth of Louisiana.”

McCain has hosted campaign surrogates–and potential VPs–at his Sedona home during the last couple months. During the weekend of February 29, he hosted a few other names in the VP hunt including—UT Gov. Jon Huntsman, NC Sen. Richard Burr, MN Gov. Tim Pawlenty and SD Sen John Thune, among other elected leaders.

Campaign advisers have been extremely reluctant to discuss any details about the ongoing VP search for months and have only confirmed that McCain his heading up the search committee himself.