I checked in a fix to IDLE too, but it seems you were using an externally-installed version of IDLE.
Sorry about that, I used actually one from CVS: with a sticky 2.0 tag :-(
Assigning to __debug__ was never well-defined. You used it at your own risk.
When __debug__ was first introduced, the NEWS entry read
# Without -O, the assert statement actually generates code that first # checks __debug__; if this variable is false, the assertion is not # checked. __debug__ is a built-in variable whose value is # initialized to track the -O flag (it's true iff -O is not # specified). With -O, no code is generated for assert statements, # nor for code of the form ``if __debug__: <something>''.
So it clearly says that it is a variable, and that assert will check its value at runtime. I can't quote any specific messages, but I recall that you've explained it that way also in the public.
Regards, Martin