As Ambassador Ryan Crocker and General David Petraeus prepare to sit for six hours before a joint committee in Congress and offer their report on the situation in Iraq, it is becoming increasingly likely that their words will have little impact on the debate. Both parties have their message already set, and few seem truly willing to change their minds.

"We hope that opponents of the war in Congress will listen carefully to the evidence," write Sens. Joe Lieberman and John McCain in the Wall Street Journal. Their plea will fall on deaf ears, while Democrats' hopes that some Republicans will run out of patience seem less likely as well.

Crocker and Petraeus, according to reports, are likely to ask for six more months in order to continue what they will point to as a successful surge. Anti-war activists, though, like MoveOn.org, are already questioning the report's independence (see today's full page ad in the New York Times criticizing "General Betray Us").

No matter what Petraeus and Crocker say today, their comments will come as a vast majority of the American public has already made up their minds against the war. A Zogby poll out today shows just 34% of Americans think President Bush's performance on the war on terror is excellent or good, while 65% say he's performing fairly or poorly. A Pew Research poll shows a 54% majority wants troops brought home, while just 39% say the war is going well, and 63% want their representatives to vote for a timeline for withdrawal.

Whatever they say, can Crocker and Petraeus have any real effect on the debate? The answer, increasingly, looks like no.