That's always understandable. I think the bigger picture here is that we sometimes forget that they're all humans, not just public figures. They have other thoughts and opinions that aren't curated for the world.
Plus, Sagan's era didn't have Internet. People weren't sharing with the world every single fucking thought that came out of their head. I'm sure we would've heard Sagan say some dumb shit here and there if he had to produce today's world's kind of content.
You sweet summer child. If this is your biggest challenge, let me tell you about a thing called rent.