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With Disney board members scheduled to start discussing their search for CEO Michael Eisner's successor, president and promotion hopeful Robert Iger has to be thrilled about Eisner's passionate endorsements in the upcoming inside-the-belly-of-the-Mouse tell-all, DisneyWar:

At the meeting, which Iger attended, Eisner complained about dissident directors Roy E. Disney and Stanley P. Gold, who would later resign from the board and lead a shareholder revolt against him.

"Stanley and Roy are trying to get rid of me. They don't think I can run this company. But who do you think can? Bob?" Eisner asked, turning to Iger and adding dismissively, "Bob can't run this company."

Hey, wait a minute! That doesn't sound like an endorsement! We're sure that quote was taken out of context. Here, let's give Eisner another chance to prop up his Number Two:

Murphy told Iger, who then headed ABC, that he and other board members had recently talked to Eisner about succession. The Disney chief used the opportunity to "launch a long catalog of Iger's weaknesses and faults," Stewart writes. Murphy quoted Eisner as saying that Iger lacked "the stature" to head Disney and could "never succeed me."

Ummm..."never succeed me" probably just means that Eisner feels that he can't really be replaced, right? Silly ego stuff. Surely Eisner would wholeheartedly choose Iger if the question was put to him directly:

When Iger left after giving a presentation on ABC's ratings woes, the talk turned to succession. "If I had to choose," Eisner said, "it would not be Bob."

Yeah, that one's a little hard to spin positively. At least Eisner didn't get caught saying, "If Bob Iger's hair was on fire and he was sitting in the back seat of my Lexus, I wouldn't urinate on his head to put it out."