You ran into pretty much the worst case scenario. If you had installed something from a "click to install" link that depended on python it would have already been installed when you went to install Nicotine. There's also a big green "click to install" link on downloads.maemo.org for python. That *should* work. My suggestion should have also worked without necessitating "red pill mode."

Also, you *really shouldn't* stay in red pill mode (or use it at all). Maemo/ITOS2008 may *seem* like Debian, but in red pill mode the application manager *will* show you updates that really will drag you into dependency hell (and possibly end with your tablet stuck in a reboot loop requiring a reflash). For troubleshooting a package with troublesome dependencies you are much better off with apt-get or dpkg on the command line. They just give you better feedback as to what's going to happen when you smack that enter key. Anyways, here's your tablet crash course:
Software is here: http://downloads.maemo.org
List of repositories is here: http://gronmayer.com/it
Do *NOT* just click the add all repositories button on gronmayer, just like you wouldn't click on a hypothetical "Trust everything anyone says on the Internet" button. OS2008 is also known as Chinook. OS2007 was Bora. Don't add repositories from different distribution versions unless you're really sure that you know what you're doing.

Also, don't think I'm trying to talk down to you. I'm just trying to do a braindump of all the useful things I can think of off the top of my head, especially the ones that you'd have to learn the hard way otherwise. The tablet is actually really nice 90% of the time, and things usually work the way people say they do, but it is a consumer oriented embedded system and there is a learning curve coming from a traditional Unix/Linux server/desktop background.

-John