diff -up nltk-0.9.9/nltk/__init__.py.avoid-gtk-runtime-error nltk-0.9.9/nltk/__init__.py
--- nltk-0.9.9/nltk/__init__.py.avoid-gtk-runtime-error	2009-10-04 20:10:12.000000000 -0400
+++ nltk-0.9.9/nltk/__init__.py	2009-10-04 20:13:20.000000000 -0400
@@ -136,8 +136,13 @@ except ImportError:
     warnings.warn("draw module, app module, and gui downloader not loaded "
                   "(please install Tkinter library).")
 else:
-    import app, draw
-    from downloader import download_gui
+    try:
+        import app, draw
+        from downloader import download_gui
+    except RuntimeError, e:
+        import warnings
+        warnings.warn("draw module, app module, and gui downloader not loaded "
+                      "(RuntimeError during import: %s" % str(e))
 
 # override any accidentally imported demo
 def demo():