It wasn’t enough that the Rev. Jesse Jackson delivered a sermon at the funeral of former Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. He went a step farther in an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, comparing Chavez to the Founding Fathers.

“What do you say to the Venezuelans, not only in the opposition but those who have fled the country, who considered Hugo Chavez a vile dictator?” Blitzer asked.

“Well, you know, democracies mature. Our first 15 presidents owned people,” Jackson replied. “They owned slaves. Democracies mature.”

“I just want to be precise, I want to make sure, I may not be hearing you correctly,” Blitzer said. “Are you really comparing Hugo Chávez to George Washington or Thomas Jefferson or James Madison? That’s what I was hearing. But I want you to explain.”

“Well, democracies evolve,” Jackson said, speaking from Caracas, Venezuela. “My point is that our first 15 presidents owned slaves, and we’ve called it democracy for 236 years. We’ve come a mighty long way.”

On Friday, Jackson wrote an opinion piece on CNN.com, saying:

It’s time to turn crisis into opportunity, to fulfill the unfinished business of realizing to the fullest potential the relationship between the U.S. and Venezuela. Seize this moment to heal the wound and bind the ties

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