Media reach to invoke Ayers in attacks on Obama's speech to students

SUMMARY: Conservative media figures have used President Obama's planned back-to-school speech -- intended to encourage students to succeed and persist in their studies -- as an excuse to baselessly connect Obama and his education policies to William Ayers, a favorite bogeyman of the conservative media during the 2008 presidential campaign. A Washington Times editorial invoked Ayers while criticizing the administration's suggestions for student activities related to the speech, calling it "troubling in light of Mr. Obama's history of radical activism in schools," while Michelle Malkin claimed the speech amounted to "[a]busing and exploiting children" and said "[i]t all goes back to Bill Ayers in Chicago."

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