I'd rewrite as follows. This should do the same thing.

    def _make_raw_finding(self, node):
        try:
            group_title = node.getElementsByTagName("groupTitle")[0].firstChild.data
            weakness_count = int(node.attributes['count'].value)
        except Exception, e:       
            raise FortifyIntegrationError("Error processing report: malformed GroupingSection detected in SubSection 'Issues By Category'")
        return {
            'id': group_title,
            'description': group_title,
            'count': weakness_count
        }