MoDo has dibs on Nazi-baiting

Is Maureen Dowd the first to slur Benedict XVI as a Nazi?: "The white smoke yesterday signaled that the Vatican thinks what it needs to bring it into modernity is the oldest pope since the 18th century: Joseph Ratzinger, a 78-year-old hidebound archconservative who ran the office that used to be called the Inquisition and who once belonged to Hitler Youth. "

Does MoDo get a prize for being the first to call Benedict XVI a Nazi? Ratzinger was 14 when he was conscripted into the Nazi youth group. He was later in the Wehrmacht. He deserted in '44. There's no evidence that he was ever devoted to Nazism.

Waiting for MoDo to do the piece in which she mentions that Senator Byrd in the KKK for many years. As "Kleagle." As an adult. For years. Under no external compulsion whatsoever.

[Update: MereComments on Touchstone blog has a good summary of Ratzinger's history, including this on the WWII years: "Of course, this is all nonsense. Ratzinger, like all German boys was considered a member of the Hitler youth—and (did they tell you?) he resisted and skipped meetings. He was drafted into the army, which is what you would expect, and deserted, though was later kept, briefly, as a prisoner of war. His father, by the way, was a known dissident."