Earlier quoted context omitted.
But I never needed to worry about those three lines in PHP, to a new user that is important. To you and I they come naturally. PHP "is especially suited for Web development and can be embedded into HTML" [1]. Python "lets you work more quickly and integrate your systems more effectively" [2]. They can both do the task of the other, but the upstart time for a developer to handle the task of making a web app is smaller…
Python has a `cgi` module that does most of the superglobal stuff for you. But, er. Does this really matter? Yes, you can get "hello world" in PHP with one line of not-PHP. You can also get "hello world" in Python + Flask with seven lines, and you'll get half a dozen extremely nice features for free that you can learn about as you go. Arguing about what stack has the simplest way to build from total scratch is a sad…
So yes, it really does matter in the context of this thread. On the whole I agree with your philosophy that frameworks are there for a reason: you get many features for almost nothing.
But sometimes you just don't need a framework, you need something quick-and-dirty that just works.