Outlook has strange issue typing in quoted text

I have an Outlook 2003 installation that types an automatic tag when typing in the quoted text in a reply or forwarded message.  For example, I click reply and if I want to add anything to the quoted text the first letter I appears with added text.  For example, if I type n, I would see  [Thanks for your message]n.  I would be able to continue typing without issue, but if I move the cursor to another spot in the quoted text, and type g, I would see [Thanks for your message]g.

This occurs on any HTML message, but not on rich text or text messages.  It occurs regardless of whether Word is set as the email editor.  It also occurs even if I disable all add ins.  Also, it occurs even if I uncheck all options under tools -> options -> spelling -> general options.  I reviewed the settings and could not find anything that I though would cause this.  Recreating the profile and outlook /firstrun did not help.  It did not occur in safe mode, but all messages were edited via rich text or text in safe mode so I would not expect this issue to occur then.

This has me stumped.  Any ideas?