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I heard him speak for an hour or so last summer, and was somewhat pleasantly surprised. No question he's liberal on most issues. However, he seemed to have gained respect for Bush, although that's only my interpretation. He was chilling in his description of the terrorist operations around the world, and I thought overall complimentary about Bush's approach that this is a major WAR that must be fought. (Yes, he was already trying to create interest in his then-nearly-released book). He closed with a very funny Watergate story relating the fact that his mother heard TV news regarding one of his investigative pieces, and the news report described him as a liberal. His mom called him to congratulate him on his TV exposure, didn't mention the political news, and then said "Now, Bob, what's this about you being a liberal?!"

At the very least, he was a very good speaker, and very smooth in answering a pointed question re why the Post never investigated Clinton. (He claimed he wrote some unflattering pieces, and didn't seem to revere Bubba much).
But then, it was a conservative audience, so maybe he was playing to the crowd a bit...