Recently I compared Rick Santorum...

 
...to Barry Goldwater. (Read it here.) 

But after listening to the former senator from Pennsylvania the last couple of weeks, I wonder if Francisco Franco might be a better comparison. From Wikipedia (all emphasis mine):

 

...Franco depicted himself as the defender of "Catholic Spain..." 

And: 

...the Catholic Church was upheld as the established church of the Spanish State, and regained many of the traditional privileges it had lost under the Republic. Civil servants had to be Catholic, and some official jobs even required a "good behavior" statement by a priest. Civil marriages which had taken place under Republican Spain were declared null and void unless confirmed by the Catholic Church ... Divorce was forbidden, and also contraceptives and abortion. 

And: 

Francoism professed a devotion to the traditional role of women in society, that is: loving child to her parents and brothers, faithful to her husband, residing with her family. Official propaganda confined her role to family care and motherhood. Immediately after the [civil] war, most progressive laws passed by the Republic aimed at equality between the sexes were made void. Women could not become judges, or testify in trial. They could not become university professors. Their affairs and economy had to be managed by their father or by their husbands. Even in the 1970s a woman fleeing from an abusive husband could be arrested and imprisoned for "abandoning the home."  Until the 1970s a woman could not have a bank account without a co-sign by her father or husband. 

And: 

The enforcement by public authorities of traditional Catholic values was a stated intent of the regime... 

And just to rub it in (for good measure): 

In September 1939, World War II broke out in Europe, and although Hitler met Franco once to discuss Spanish entry on the side of the Axis, Franco's demands (food, military equipment, Gibraltar, French North Africa etc.) proved too much and no agreement was reached. (An oft-cited remark attributed to Hitler is that the German leader would rather have some teeth extracted than to have to deal further with Franco).