Python HTMLParser and super()

So I have a class that inherits from HTMLParser, and I want to call the super class init (the __init__ of HTMLParser), I would think I should do:

class MyParser(HTMLParser):
    def __init__(self):
        super(MyParser, self).__init__()

But this causes a problem:

myparser = MyParser()

Traceback (most recent call last):
    File "", line 1, in
    File "", line 3, in __init__
    TypeError: must be type, not classobj

What's with that? The super(class, instance).__init__ idiom is the supposed proper way of calling a parent class constructor, and it is -- if the class is a "new-style" Python class (one which inherits from object, or a class which inherits from object).

And therein is the problem: HTMLParser inherits from markupbase.ParserBase, and markupbase.ParserBase is defined as:

class ParserBase:
    """Parser base class which provides some common support methods used
    by the SGML/HTML and XHTML parsers."""

That is, as an old style class. One definitely wonders why in Python 2.7+ the classes that form part of the standard library wouldn't all be new-style classes, especially when the class is intended as being something you inherit from (like HTMLParser). Anywho, to fix:

class MyParser(HTMLParser):
    def __init__(self):
        # Old style way of doing super()
        HTMLParser.__init__(self)

(Note: this post originally appeared on my blogspot blog at: http://codependentcodr.blogspot.ca/2012/02/python-htmlparser-and-super.html)