Is it illegal to torrent a live show that you cannot watch otherwise (details)

I want to watch the Republican Debate tonight, but while it’s going on, I will actually be having dinner with my cousin. I know there are websites that stream these type of events (the Olympics, political speeches, the Royal Wedding, awards shows, etc), but I haven’t found any let you watch the full thing later, only watch clips. I have found, however, that I can always find torrents of these tv events. So if there’s no way to watch it with the commercials on Hulu or whatever, is it actually illegal to torrent a copy of the debate later on? Would it still be illegal if the torrent included the recorded commercials?

Please, for the love of Mike, don’t just have a kneejerk reaction and tell me that all torrents are illegal, or that you “feel” that it’s illegal – actually know that it’s illegal or not.