Joe Barton: "A tragedy of the first proportion"

I think it is a tragedy in the first proportion that a private corporation can be subjected to what I would characterize as a shakedown -- in this case a $20 billion shakedown

These were the words yesterday of Rep. Joe Barton (R-Tex) commenting on the escrow account that the administration got BP to agree to. An agreement Burton labelled a "shakedown." Although most of the media has focussed on the word "shakedown." It seems to me that - in the face of a real "tragedy of the first proportion" in the Gulf of Mexico, Burton would characterize the White House/BP deal in those words. Talk about insensitivity.