Ed Schultz to John Boehner: Will you take impeachment off the table?

Now that control of the House has changed parties, some liberals are worried about what Republicans will do with their new power.

As the election results came in Tuesday night, MSNBC's Ed Schultz just wanted to know if soon-to-be House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) would move to impeach President Barack Obama.

"Four years ago, in the midst of an avalanche of criticism of the Bush administration, Nancy Pelosi took impeachment off the table," noted Schultz. "I want to ask Mr. Boehner tonight, are you going to take impeachment off the table? Or are we going to go down this road of divide, are we going to go down this road of investigations?"

Schultz was echoing concerns by some Democrats, such as Rep. Jim Clyburn, that a Republican-dominated Congress could spend much of the next two years attempting to remove the president from office.

Last month, Jonathan Chait of The New Republic wrote: "Hear me now and believe me later: If Republicans win and maintain control of the House of Representatives, they are going to impeach President Obama. ... They won't do it right away. And they won't succeed in removing Obama. (You need 67 Senate votes.) But if Obama wins a second term, the House will vote to impeach him before he leaves office."

When Democrats took control of the House in 2006, Speaker Nancy Pelosi unilaterally said there would be no impeachment of President George W. Bush.

"I have said it before and I will say it again: Impeachment is off the table," Pelosi told reporters at a news conference.

This video is from MSNBC's Decision 2010, broadcast Nov. 2, 2010.

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Editor's note: This story has been altered from an earlier version. It was corrected for clarity.