The skirmishing around Obama's remarks about small town America intensified this morning, with Hillary hammering them as "elitist and out of touch" -- language strikingly similar to that used by McCain's spokesperson yesterday.

Hillary also used the remarks to pivot over to a discussion of her own "Midwestern values," and strikingly, she even suggested implicitly that she's more respectful of people's faith than Obama, a member of the United Church of Christ. "Americans who believe in God believe it's a matter of personal faith," she said...

Meanwhile, Obama this morning mounted a spirited defense of his comments. He sought to use the political fight to renew his call for a new politics, dismissing the fight as a "typical political flare-up" and adding that we have to get past such "distractions."

Obama also that he'd spoken the truth in saying folks are "bitter." Notably, he softened his language about religion, saying that it's understandable that some "take comfort from their faith."

But he appeared to concede that he'd misspoken, saying: "I didn't say it as well as I should have...but what is absolutely true is that people don't feel like they're being listened to."...

Full transcripts after the jump.

Hillary:

I am the granddaughter of a factory worker. I grew up in the Midwest. Born in Chicago, raised outside of that great city. I was raised with Midwestern values and an unshakeable faith America and its promise.

Now, like some of you may have been, I was taken aback by the demeaning remarks Senator Obama made about people in small town America. Senator Obama's remarks are elitist and they are out of touch. They are not reflective of the values and beliefs of Americans. Certainly not the Americans that I know - not the Americans I grew up with, not the Americans I lived with in Arkansas or represent in New York.

You know, Americans who believe in the Second Amendment believe it¹s a matter of Constitutional rights. Americans who believe in God believe it is a matter of personal faith. Americans who believe in protecting good American jobs believe it is a matter of the American Dream.

When my dad grew up it was in a working class family in Scranton. I grew up in a church-going family, a family that believed in the importance of living out and expressing our faith.

The people of faith I know don't "cling to" religion because they're bitter.

People embrace faith not because they are materially poor, but because they are spiritually rich. Our faith is the faith of our parents and our grandparents. It is a fundamental expression of who we are and what we believe.

I also disagree with Senator Obama's assertion that people in this country "cling to guns" and have certain attitudes about immigration or trade simply out of frustration. People of all walks of life hunt - and they enjoy doing so because it's an important part of their life, not because they are bitter.

And as I¹ve traveled across Indiana and I¹ve talked to a lot of people what I hear are real concerns about unfair trade practices that cost people jobs.

I think hardworking Americans are right to want to see changes in our trade laws. That¹s what I have said. That¹s what I have fought for.

I would also point out that the vast majority of working Americans reject anti-immigration rhetoric. They want reform so that we remain a nation of immigrants, but also a nation of laws that we enforce and we enforce fairly.

Americans are fair-minded and good-hearted people. We have ups and downs. We face challenges and problems. But our views are rooted in real values, and they should be respected.

Americans out across our country have born the brunt of the Bush administration¹s assault on the middle class. Contrary to what Senator Obama says, most Americans did much better during the Clinton years than they have done during the Bush years.

If we are striving to bring people together - and I believe we should be - I don't think it helps to divide our country into one America that is enlightened and one that is not.

We know there is an unacceptable economic divide in America today, but that is certainly not the way to bridge it. The way to do that is to roll up our sleeves and get to work and make sure we provide, once again, economic opportunity and shared prosperity for all Americans.

People don't need a president who looks down on them; they need a president who stands up for them. And that is exactly what I will do as your president.

Because I believe if you want to be the president of all Americans, you need to respect all Americans. And that starts with respecting our hard working Americans, and what we need to do here is to take a lesson from Allison transmission.

Obama:

The problem is our politics doesn’t let the American people get heard. People know that it’s not easy solving some of these problems but they want to feel like at least someone is fighting for them.

It’s interesting. Lately there has been a little typical sort of political flare up because I said something that everybody knows is true which is that there are a whole bunch of folks in small towns in Pennsylvania, in towns right here in Indiana, in my hometown in Illinois who are bitter.

They are angry.

They feel like they have been left behind. They feel like nobody is paying attention to what they’re going through.

So I said well you know when you’re bitter you turn to what you can count on. So people they vote about guns, or they take comfort from their faith and their family and their community.

And they get mad about illegal immigrants who are coming over to this country or they get frustrated about how things are changing.

That’s a natural response.

And now I didn’t say it as well as I should have because you know the truth is that these traditions that are passed on from generation to generation those are important. That’s what sustains us.

But what is absolutely true is that people don’t feel like they are being listened to. And so they pray and they count on each other and they count on their families. You know this in your own lives. What we need is a government that is actually paying attention. A government that is fighting for working people day in and day out making sure that we are trying to allow them to live out the American dream. And that’s what this campaign is about.

We’ve got to get past the divisions. We’ve got to get past the distractions of our politics and fight for each other.

That is why I am running for president of the United States. And I think we’ve got an opportunity to bring about that change right here and right now.

But I’m going to need your help Indiana. I’m going to need your help.