bogus config file vs. 'git config --edit'

Let's suppose I somehow ended up with a bogus config file:

  $ tail -n2 .git/config 
  [section]
          foo bar baz

and now I try to rectify the situation, but I know that poking around in the .git directory is a no-no, so instead of 'vim .git/config' I try:

  $ git config --edit
  fatal: bad config line 81 in file .git/config

Uh-oh.

Furthermore, if I don't remember quite clearly the finer points of the syntax of the config file, then I might want to look it up:

  $ git help config
  fatal: bad config line 81 in file .git/config

I think bith 'git config --edit' and 'git help ...' should just work, no matter what nonsense might be in the config file, even if they then launch a different editor or pager than what are set in the configuration.