The Ryan nomination

I'm guessing that we're going to be having this conversation repeatedly over the next few months, but I thought I'd kick things off by asking: Why does Paul Ryan propose tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans that go beyond even the Bush tax cuts?  (If the factual premise of the my question is wrong, then please point me toward information that can clarify things for me.)  I don't mean this question rhetorically or in any sort of snarky way.  Really, why would he embrace such massive tax cuts at this stage of American history, especially as someone committed to Catholic social teaching? 

I really want to like Paul Ryan -- not just because he went to college with my wife (a quick weekend search uncovered no incriminating party pics), or because he's pro-life, but because he is willing to have an honest conversation about the pressing need for entitlement reform.  He shows that our country's fiscal path is untenable, and that painful decisions need to be made.  But why embrace deeper tax cuts for the wealthy if that makes those decisions even more painful?

If Ryan and I were replaying a scene from Jerry Maguire (perhaps a disconcerting image in its own right), my line would be "You had me at entitlement reform."  Unfortunately, he may have lost me when he couldn't stop talking and insisted on "massive tax cuts."  Is this the sort of ideological pandering that is increasingly necessary to rise to the top in American politics?  (That is, while many Democrats race each other to the extreme edges on abortion-related issues, Republicans now do so on taxes?)  Or is there a good-faith, CST-inspired case for these particular tax cuts?