Everything before the 'but' was about the "commerce dept." mistake. That's why the 'but' is there to separate two ideas contained in that first sentence. I'm not going to argue that it was a well written article. It's not.
Nope...it’s not...
I can’t even tell if it’s pro or con...
Maybe it’s just a Texas thing...
It was no "oops" moment, but a bit of Texas deja vu of Perry disastrously taking a stab at the same line as a presidential candidate four years ago.
So it's a flub but not a oops...