Because he felt sorry for her, silly. Not because she was privy to information that could destroy his boss’s political career. Cynics.

Fred Baron, John Edwards’ campaign finance chairman and longtime confidante, told NBC News he has been providing financial assistance to both Andrew Young [the alleged father of Hunter’s baby] and Rielle Hunter, he said in telephone interviews…

Baron insisted Edwards never knew what Baron did for Young and Hunter; he believes Edwards didn’t even have an inkling that Baron was doing this…

“My role is to be supportive of these two families,” he said.

Hush money? “Of course it wasn’t hush money!”…

“Personal funds only — no campaign funds,” he writes.

What a guy. You know who’s an even better guy? John Edwards, nobly throwing himself on a grenade to protect a defenseless family … after, er, nine months of tabloid coverage:

It was that National Enquirer photo which was the straw that made Edwards decide he needed to come clean, Baron said…

Edwards did the interview to clear up mistakes and mostly to stop the tabloids from hounding Hunter and her child and Andrew Young and his family, Baron said.

Baron also accuses the Enquirer of photoshopping the now infamous picture of Edwards with the baby — which might be the most plausible thing he said during the interview. Thank goodness this is now settled, all I’s dotted and T’s crossed, so we can return to the more important business of tying John McCain to Vicki Iseman. You had your two hours of news, wingnuts. Let’s get back to the Narrative.

If you’re curious to see what the Edwards campaign got in return for the $114,000 it paid Hunter for her moviemaking skillz, the L.A. Times has video. Click the image to watch. Exit question for the AP: Right, understood, you couldn’t confirm the story. Did you even try?