The vile Obama email hits Orange County

My dad forwarded the Obama email to me this afternoon.  You know, the email that makes wild claims about Obama's background (claiming his mother was ATHEIST--god forbid), his religion (MUSLIM! allegedly), his lack of patriotism (he supposedly refuses to say the Pledge of Allegiance!) and his wicked intentions should he win the presidency.

Of course, my dad knew that the email was bull, he'd heard me talk about it and sent it to me after receiving it from one of the leaders of an organization to which he belongs "Families of Italian Lineage" (or, FIL), in Orange County, CA.  As I read down the email string, I realized that the leader sent it to the organization's secretary with the following instruction "Please send this to all FIL members.  Thank you."  Creepy, to say the least.

I decided to reply to the FIL leader, and to the people who had passed it along down the email string.  My response, under the fold:  

"I hope you realize that this email you are sending around is false.  These are lies being spread by racists who are afraid of a black man winning the presidency.  Take the time to read for yourself:

http://en.wikipedia.org/...

http://www.snopes.com/...

Take care."

So far I have not received a reply, and don't expect to.  What do people make of this?  Do you think this email and similar, vile whisper campaigns which will surely follow can have an actual effect on elections?  Do people actually believe this crap?  I suspect they do, as illustrated by the leader of an obscure ethnic organization's decision to pass this along to "all members . . ."  and what we learned from the Swift Boat debacle.

Maybe I am naive, but I can't believe that Americans are that stupid.  Thoughts?