Way back in January, Insight magazine, a project of Sun Myung Moon's far-right Washington Times, published an item asking, "Are the American people ready for an elected president who was educated in a Madrassa as a young boy and has not been forthcoming about his Muslim heritage?" Even by conservative standards, it was a ridiculous attack with no foundation in reality.

Fox News and several conservative blogs pounced on the story, but even they eventually backpedaled. The story was debunked, repeatedly, by news outlets large and small, and the baseless smear quickly faded away.

Ben Smith and Jonathan Martin report that the story didn't disappear altogether.

[R]ather than vanish, the whispered smear campaign appears to have gone underground, and in its purest form: Obama himself, according to a pair of widely circulated anonymous e-mails, is a Muslim.

"Barack Hussein Obama has joined the United Church of Christ in an attempt to downplay his Muslim background," warns an e-mail titled "Who Is Barack Obama," that was circulating in South Carolina political circles this summer and sent to Politico by a South Carolina Democrat.

"The Muslims have said they plan on destroying the U.S. from the inside out; what better way to start than at the highest level?"

"Please forward to everyone you know," it ended.

The other widely forwarded e-mail is titled "Can a good Muslim become a good American" and answers that question in the negative, before concluding: "And Barack Hussein Obama, a Muslim, wants to be our president!!!"

What is it about South Carolina and ugly whisper campaigns?