Loose cannon: Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo was ungraciously uninvited to speak before the Miami Rotary Club today after the organization received complaints from the restaurant that hosts the club’s meetings and club members. Tancredo, if you remember, called Miami a “Third World country” a few weeks ago while making an insightful argument about illegal immigration.

With the typical class we in the Third World have come to expect from the representative from Colorado, Tancredo responded to the cancellation with this pithy reposte:

”I knew speaking your mind could be dangerous in Havana — I guess it’s equally dangerous to do so in Miami,” Tancredo said in a statement. “Apparently, there isn’t much of a difference between the two anymore.

“I hope to someday return to Miami when it has been able to extricate itself from the clutches of the radical multiculturalists.”

The multiculturally challenged congressman was slated to speak on the topic of immigration in an address titled Renewing America: The Need for Assimilation. Kind of like asking Mel Gibson to speak on the future of Israel. Or asking Michael Richards to address the NAACP. Or asking Britney Speares to model underwear.

Still, it was a lame-O reason the Rusty Pelican Restaurant gave for the cancellation:

”We have a small parking space and limited entrance area, and we were very concerned about the safety of our guests and employees,” said Randy Palmer, the Rusty Pelican’s regional manager. “We’re not trying to make a political statement, but there was an implication of boycotts — and shock, being that we’re part of the community, that we would consider hosting this event.”

In November, Tancredo pointed to Miami as an example of what will happen to the United States if immigration policies are not tightened:

”You would never know you’re in the United States of America,” he said in an interview with a conservative online news site. “You would certainly say you’re in a Third World country.”

A Third World country where you can get a good cup of java, Tancredo failed to add. Plus, some of those Third World chicks on Miami Beach are hot.

Gov. Jeb Bush, who had rallied to Miami’s plight with a resounding condemnation of Tancredo’s Third World comment as ”naive,” likewise quickly turned on Miami over the cancellation of Tancredo’s visit:

”The governor is disappointed with the behavior of these individuals that prevented the congressman from visiting Miami — a trip that would have afforded him the opportunity to enjoy the city’s many attributes and a trip that would have started a worthwhile dialogue on Florida’s rich heritage and cultures,” Bush spokeswoman Kristy Campbell said in a statement.

The Rotary Club cluelessly did not anticipate the community’s reaction to Tancredo’s scheduled visit.

”We do not endorse political views in any way, shape or form,” said the group’s president, Richard Tonkinson. “Whoever is at the podium, we listen to what they have to say, we thank them for coming, we give them a certificate of appreciation and that’s it. In other words, we’re not a political organization, and as such, we render no opinion on whether the guy is crazy or not.”

Of course, they have to get to the podium through the unwashed masses of illegal immigrants jamming the Third World streets of Miami. Tonkinson claimed that Tancredo was booked to speak months before he made his ill-considered comment about Miami.

”Our membership looks like the demographics of Miami and we are proud of our diversity,” Tonkinson said. “We were actually looking forward to the opportunity to grill this guy.”

Oh yeah, I’ll bet there would have been some tough questions from those hard-headed Rotarians. Right, and the Washington press corps is not a bunch of wishy-washy namby-pambies.

Tancredo has posted the speech he was planning to give on his Web site. You can read it here.

It’s worth reading through Tancredo’s speech. It accuses Miami, correctly, of being poor, crime-ridden and corrupt. But his most telling comments address the fact that Spanish has supplanted English as the language of commerce and culture in Miami — a sure sign, in Tancredo’s credo, that Miami has sunk into the realm of the Third World.

The guy should just stay in his white bread Colorado district and leave the business and corruption of Miami to those of us who are not threatened by a lot of multiculturalism, especially those cultures that practice santeria and voodoo, if you catch my drift, Tom ….