By Bill Sammon

When Joe Biden claimed at a Democratic debate last year that he had been "shot at" while visiting Baghdad's Green Zone, the press didn't bother to check it out, since Biden's White House bid seemed unlikely to succeed.

But now that he has been catapulted into contention by virtue of being selected as Barack Obama's running mate, Biden and such bullet-dodging tales may be subjected to a level of scrutiny that tripped up Hillary Clinton when she falsely claimed to have come under sniper fire in Bosnia.

And Republicans would have a litany of apparent inconsistencies and embellishments to pick through.

Click here to read Biden's bio.

For example, Biden claimed in 2006 that he chided President Bush in a private conversation.

"When I speak to the president," he told Bill Maher on HBO, "I'll literally turn to the president and say, ‘Mister President, how can you say that, knowing you don't know the facts?'"

"He said, ‘I have good instincts,'" said Biden, purporting to quote Bush. "I said, ‘Mr. President, your instincts aren't good enough.'"

His Democratic audience cheered appreciatively, but a close Bush confidante told FOX News on Saturday: "That conversation never happened."

On the same show, Biden claimed to have once told a colleague: "Were we not senators, I'd rip your goddamn Adam's apple out."

Although he did not name the other senator, Biden's graphic imagery caused some to wonder about his temperament.

Biden also used unusually strong language to ridicule those who believe in creationism or intelligent design.

"I refuse to believe the majority of people believe this malarkey!" the senior senator from Delaware exclaimed.

But less than six months earlier, CBS News conducted a poll that found a majority of Americans (51 percent) do believe that God created humans in their present form. Even larger majorities reject the theory of evolution, according to the poll.

After the HBO show ended, a reporter asked Biden whether his dismissal of a belief held dear by most Americans might come back to haunt him if his White House bid gained traction.

With characteristic bluntness, Biden shrugged and said yes.