In a pathetically transparent attempt at belated damage control, the spin being put on Jimmy Carter’s visit to Syria to hang out with genocidal terrorist thugs is that he’s trying to get Hamas to release kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit: Carter meets Hamas chief in Syria.

Jimmy Carter has made history as the United States’ single most disgraceful former president. By far.

DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter met Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal in Damascus on Friday for talks expected to focus on ways to include the Islamist group in efforts to achieve Palestinian-Israeli peace.

High-level Hamas members also attended the meeting, at which Carter would also raise with Meshaal the fate of an Israeli soldier captured by Hamas, according to a source familiar with the agenda.

Carter, who is on a Middle East tour to hear views on solving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, earlier met Syrian President Bashar al-Assad

Carter’s meeting with Meshaal is one of the highest profile encounters between the group and a Western figure.

Previous efforts to broker a prisoner exchange deal between Hamas and Israel involving the soldier, who was captured by Palestinian fighters in a 2006 raid on Israeli territory, have floundered.

“Carter is very upbeat. The publicity put out by his detractors made him more determined to pursue a different way with Hamas. He is optimistic that the meeting will advance efforts to end the soldier’s saga,” the source said.