How would you have reacted to this?

[Johnny Canuck3]

Now the question I ask is: do you lot understand why I might not have been happy with that temp situation? That I might have found it a bit upsetting? The thing is if it had been working on another project or magazine within that company, I would have been fine.

Or am I just being a fool or over-emotional? Should I have taken the temp work?

I can sort of see why you were unhappy, but look at it the other way: they obviously considered you a strong candidate if they want you to temp there. They just went originally with someone who they considered stronger.

To me, this confirms that they were telling you the truth about why you didn't get the job. Basically, it says that if the other guy hadn't been around/applying, you would have had the position.