I love a good argument!!!
I THINK that the differance in acceleration to agiven speed with/with out first stage flap will be VERY small, slightly slower with flap. I THINK the point being missed is that in the air (flying) full flap will be high drag and slow you down, however when running along the ground SUDDENLY dropping full flap will "trap" a pocket of air and push the 'plane up in to the air much below "normal" flying speed. The drag will be less than experianced in the air as the speed is much lower and in ground effect, once in the air the last stage of flap will need to be removed to let the 'plane accelerate. The reason I THINK it will not work with electric flaps is because they don't drop quick enough to "trap" the air.
These are just my thoughts, I have only ever flown about 5 1/2 hours PUT so what do I know