diff -r 96d1c3cf06b3 Lib/idlelib/EditorWindow.py
--- a/Lib/idlelib/EditorWindow.py	Sun Nov 18 10:27:12 2012 -0500
+++ b/Lib/idlelib/EditorWindow.py	Sun Nov 18 13:04:20 2012 -0600
@@ -1614,7 +1614,7 @@
                 tokens = _tokenize.generate_tokens(self.readline)
                 for token in tokens:
                     self.tokeneater(*token)
-            except _tokenize.TokenError:
+            except (_tokenize.TokenError, SyntaxError):
                 # since we cut off the tokenizer early, we can trigger
                 # spurious errors
                 pass