Yes, he did deserve it.
- He made that movie, and the movie is the biggest blend of critical and popular success in a movie for a long time.
-His character was truly scary and you really had no idea what to expect from him. He really came across as a mad genius, more so than any superhero movie villain I've ever seen, including Jack Nicholson's Joker (!). (Not saying he's a better actor than Jack but he's definitely the better Joker).
- There were scenes that could have come across cheesy or stupid (nurse's outfit) but they were good. A really difficult role to play right, but every scene was spot-on.
-Great acting work is supposed to show audiences something compelling and even challenging about the complex psychology of a character; this performance did.
-Finally, I think the best proof is that his work was by far THE standout performance in a cast that had strong work from Christian Bale, Aaron Eckhart, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Gary Oldman, Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman (many of whom have been nominated for or have won Golden Globes).

The competitors were very strong as a group of actors in terms of their careers as a whole, but these roles from Hoffman and Fiennes, even though they are EXCELLENT actors, are not all that different from other roles they have played; it was not a surprise to see their performances. Awards should go to great actors doing their best work. Downey and Cruise were good too, but I honestly don't believe that what they did in Tropic Thunder is as significant a contribution to acting as the other three nominations (I am not talking about them as actors overall, just about their role in that particular movie. And I don't mean that comic acting isn't just as hard as dramatic, it's just those roles were not as substantial).

Is it true that there might be ulterior motives for voting for him? Sure, but that doesn't mean it's not deserved. Awards shows regularly dismiss tremendous acting (and writing) when the movie is sci-fi or comic-book-adapted or fantasy, etc. The anti-genre bias and the personal or emotional reasons for voting for him probably cancel each other out (this part is just an opinion, but it is well-known that there is an anti-genre bias in big awards shows; listen to any TV critic talk about Battlestar Galactica (or Star Wars)).

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