Politics | George HW Bush Ex-President Bush to Spend Christmas in Hospital Doctors 'cautiously optimistic,' but want him to gain strength By Newser Editors and Wire Services Posted Dec 24, 2012 4:13 PM CST Copied In a Tuesday, June 12, 2012 file photo, President George H.W. Bush, and his wife, Barbara Bush, arrive for the premiere of HBO's documentary on his life. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File) Former President George HW Bush will spend Christmas in a Texas hospital after developing a fever and weakness following a monthlong, bronchitis-like cough. A Bush spokesman said today that doctors remain "cautiously optimistic" the 88-year-old will recover, but they want to keep him in the hospital. A hospital spokesman had said last week that doctors expected Bush to be released in time to spend Christmas at home. The spokesman says Bush came down with a fever last week, but that he's largely overcome the painful, lingering cough that initially put him in the hospital on Nov. 23. No word on the cause of the fever or weakness. Read These Next More details coming out about the last party the Reiners attended. First Australia victims lost their lives confronting the shooter. An MIT nuclear science professor was fatally shot at his home. See the states Americans are leaving, and where they're moving. Report an error