Rose: no, you are not stupid. In "The Lord of the Rings", the Elves seem to be truly brave, noble, strong, angelic, otherworldly (etc., etc.) beings in Frodo, Merry, Pippin, and Sam's eyes. I think that it is because they do not know exactly what had and was going on in the true worlds of the Elves. They had only heard tales of the heroic deeds that this "great" race had accomplished. They did not hear as much of the follies and great mishaps involving the Elves earlier on in their history.
As an analogy (a fairly poor one, but still...), it would be like learning of the heroic deeds of knights in the Middle Ages (such as tales of the maybe mythical King Arthur and the tale of Lancelot), but not knowing of tyranny and betrayal and pain that had to have gone on then (as it goes on in all times).
So, yes, in "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit", the Elves are given an out-of-this-world-type of heavenly "glow" of sorts in the eyes of the small, sheltered Hobbits, who have only heard of tales such as that of Eärendil's journey and the romance and chivalry of Beren and Luthien. You're not completely crazy (or maybe you and I both are, either way...)
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"I think we dream so we don't have to be apart so long. If we're in each others dreams, we can be together all the time." - Hobbes of Calvin and Hobbes
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