I still recall in one episode of his first talk show, in the late 1960s, he used the phrase "colored people," and one of his guests gently told him, on the air, that the phrase is no longer used. He apologized, but it was truly cringeworthy. I don't know his political leaning, but I'm assuming he's basically sort of liberal--but also a product of his upbringing in Nebraska in the 1930s and early '40s.