Will the IRS scandal revive the Tea Party?

Tea Party activists are pouncing on the IRS scandal — one of several that have sent the Obama administration into damage-control mode this week — and are calling for a full investigation.

A Treasury Department watchdog reported Tuesday that IRS employees singled out many groups, including those with "Tea Party" and "patriot" in their names, ahead of the 2010 and 2012 elections, although it found no evidence that anybody outside the IRS approved the policy. President Obama has slammed the IRS's behavior as "intolerable and inexcusable." "If you've got the IRS operating in anything less than a neutral and nonpartisan way, then that is outrageous," Obama said.

Tea Partiers say the extra scrutiny from the IRS proves that their complaints about Big Government were valid all along. And the scandal comes at a fortuitous time for the small-government grassroots movement, which has seen its influence wane since it stormed onto the political stage in 2010.

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So are we witnessing the rebirth of the Tea Party, just months after President Obama's re-election appeared to signal its demise? Some commentators are convinced we are. "The tea party is back," says Beth Reinhard at National Journal. She continues:

It's hard to deny that the IRS controversy has focused renewed attention on the Tea Party. The question is what difference this will make in Washington. Conservatives expect it to translate into a fundraising bonanza for Tea Party groups, as well as a big morale boost for the lawmakers on Capitol Hill who the activist movement helped elect. It could also energize the Tea Party's old opposition to ObamaCare, as the health care law calls for an expansion of the IRS.

Still, predicts Sean Sullivan at The Washington Post, that won't be enough to propel the weakened movement to victory.