Rick Reed
By 
Rick Reed, a Republican advertising executive whose work in the 2004 presidential race tarnished Senator John Kerry, the Democratic nominee, by attacking his record as a Swift boat commander during the Vietnam War — giving rise to the term “swift boating” as a synonym for making ad hominem attacks, typically unfair, on a public figure — died on Aug. 17 at his home in Alexandria, Va. He was 69.
His daughter Mackey Reed confirmed the death but did not provide a cause.
The 2004 ads Mr. Reed helped produce, for a group called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, were highly contentious and remain so. Mr. Kerry and his allies, including a number of those who served with him, disputed the group’s claims that he had lied about his service and had betrayed his country by speaking out against the war later.
Journalists discredited several of the ads, which were part of a broader effort to challenge Mr. Kerry’s war record that also included a best-selling book. Senator John McCain, a Republican and a former prisoner of war, called them “dishonest and dishonorable.”
The idea that the problems of the Republican Party are fundamentally about Donald Trump might be convenient and somewhat comforting even. But the monsters destroying American democracy are often behind the scenes. Like Reed, they are powerful and they are coming for everything decent people hold dear. I have little love for John Kerry’s 2004 campaign, what with its ridiculous “Reporting for Duty” speech at the convention, but what Reed did was beyond disgusting. For once, the evil didn’t live to be 95 like Kissinger.