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Sarah Palin shot down the latest rumors that she and husband Todd are splitting on Friday, telling a conservative audience that she 'rarely' wears a ring.

Gossip columns were buzzing earlier this month about the status of the Palins' marriage after photos of the conservative commentator, sans her wedding band - and make-up, emerged online.

Palin said today that the sweaty photos were taken just after she had finished 'a workout' and denied that she and Todd were on the verge of divorce.

'Well, I rarely wear a ring, especially up in Alaska, you know it's choppin' wood or you're butcherin' a moose or something,' she told attendees of the Values Voter Summit held annually in Washington, D.C.

Together Forever: Sarah Palin denied rumors that she and her husband Todd were divorcing today. Palin, seen here pointing to her wedding ring, chalked up the erroneous claims to the liberal media

Rumors began swirling that Palin and her husband Todd were on the outs after she was spotted last week without her wedding band on

Palin told attends of the Values Voter Summit in Washington, D.C. today that she 'rarely' wears a ring, and it has nothing to do with the status of her marriage

Palin playfully confronted the issue on her own accord Friday afternoon, saying midway through her speech, 'I heard the other day that I'm in the middle of another divorce.

'Or again, the same divorce, I guess, I dunno,' she continued.

Oh, I read it - it must be true!'

True to form, Palin chalked the false accusations up to the liberal media concocting lies about her family.

'And by the way, what the heck business is it of the liberal haters anyway?' she said afterward.

'Why are liberals so intolerant? she asked to roars of applause from the Christian conservative audience.

Acknowledging Todd's absence from the event she said 'he sends his very best.'

'He's not able to be here because it is moose season,' she snarked.

The former Alaska Governor said she was helping her husband, who's she's been with since high school, winterize his plane when she brought up the defamatory stories to him.

Palin said Todd simply asked her, ' "Yeah, uh, is it was the same thing they wrote last time? Is it still that $20 million divorce?

" ''Well, write me the check!' " he said, teasing her.

The 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee appeared to let the whole incident roll off her back, saying, 'We are used to it.'

'It's kind of tragic to say it,' she said, but 'at this point, what difference does it make?'

This photo of the former Republican vice presidential candidate running errands in Anchorage, Alaska, a week and a half ago, sans her wedding ring, is what led to reknewed rumors that she and her husband Todd were on the outs

Palin appeared to have just worked left the gym when she was photographed, wearing casual dress. She confirmed today that she had just finished a workout at the time of the incident

Palin didn't talk about the media coverage of the drunken brawl her family recently got into in Alaska during which her daughter Bristol allegedly punched a man in the face, her son Track broke four ribs and her husband Todd bloodied his nose.

Instead, she used the divorce chatter as a bridge into a lengthier rant on the mainsteam media and the perceived bias against conservatives.

'It is what happens to you, too, the lies that they tell about you,' she said, 'calling you the intolerant [one], the hater, the bigots' and the racists.

'I am speaking to the most slandered group in American today,' she said.

The conservative firebrand speaker said liberals can't defeat conservatives' arguments so they just 'change the subject.'

News reports about Palin's alleged divorces have been circulating since she burst onto the national political stage in the fall of 2008.

Palin explained at a rally in Tampa, Florida, in October of that year that she sometimes doesn't wear a ring to events because of all the hand-shaking she has to do.

'And my wedding ring, it's in Todd's pocket 'cause it hurts sometimes when I shake hands and it gets squished,' she said.

'A $35 wedding ring from Hawaii that I bought by myself and 'cause I always thought with my ring it's not what it's made of, it's what it represents.

'And 20 years later, I'm happy to wear it,' she told the audience.

When stories appeared online in August of 2009 about yet another suspected split between Palin and her husband, she rebuffed the claim to conservative blogger Robert Stacy McCain with this: 'Divorce Todd? Have you seen Todd? I may be just a renegade hockey mom, but I’m not blind!'