diff -r 06cae9806d74 Lib/idlelib/WidgetRedirector.py
--- a/Lib/idlelib/WidgetRedirector.py	Fri Oct 14 14:30:54 2011 -0500
+++ b/Lib/idlelib/WidgetRedirector.py	Sun Oct 30 13:32:39 2011 -0500
@@ -101,6 +101,8 @@
         return "OriginalCommand(%r, %r)" % (self.redir, self.operation)
 
     def __call__(self, *args):
+        # Encode any string in the argument tuple.
+        args = tuple([getattr(i, 'encode', lambda:i)() for i in args])
         return self.tk_call(self.orig_and_operation + args)