John McCain revisited some touchy territory for Barack Obama Wednesday, reminding voters in Pennsylvania that the presumptive Democratic nominee had once suggested they cling to guns and religion because they are bitter about economic woes.

"Were going to go to the small towns in Pennsylvania and I'm gonna to tell them I don't agree with Senator Obama that they cling to their religion and the Constitution because they're bitter," McCain told voters in Philadelphia.

"I am going tell them they have faith and they have trust and support the Constitution of the United States because they have optimism and hope and are the strength of America. That's what America is all about is the people who love our country, who cherish their religion and support the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America," he said.

After getting hit repeatedly by the Obama campaign on Wednesday, McCain lashed out at his general election opponent, recalling the comments made by Obama before the Pennsylvania Democratic primary in April. Obama lost the primary to Hillary Clinton, though emerged as the expected nominee.

"You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton administration and the Bush administration and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are going to regenerate and they have not," Obama was recorded telling campaign contributors in San Francisco less than two weeks before the Pennsylvania vote.

"And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations," he said.

His opponents interpreted the remarks as arrogant, but Obama stood by the statement and even elaborated on the argument that many people in small towns are bitter and frustrated with the status quo in Washington.

But McCain, who faced his own onslaught earlier in the day for suggesting that "it's not too important" when troops leave Iraq as long as they are safe and can exit when they want, took the opportunity to remind voters of the statement.

McCain also slammed Obama on his stance on NAFTA, tax increases, Iran and whether Obama's policies would amount to a second term for former President Jimmy Carter.

The presumptive Republican nominee spent several minutes talking about his hatred of war and conflict, which he does occasionally but took on extra meaning after his "not important" comment.

"Instead of the sound bite, instead of taking someone’'s comments out of context and flashing it around on the cable shows, why don’'t we hear complete answers and complete thoughts and that way, and that way the American people will really have an ability to judge?" McCain asked.

McCain foreign policy adviser Randy Scheunemann said during a conference call with reporters that the use of the quote by Democrats is a "deliberate distortion" that makes the "absurd" suggestion that McCain doesn't care about the troops.

FOX News' Mosheh Oinounou contributed to this report.